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CLASS    NO.- Q-'S    C 

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DATE AOA^VULX 


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:fiSp  Ibelcn  Campbell 


I.    THE  AMERICAN  GIRL'S  HOME-BOOK 
II.    HOUSEHOLD   ECONOMICS 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York  and  London 


HOUSEHOLD   ECONOMICS 

'      b 

A   COURSE    OF    LECTURES    IN    THE    SCHOOL    OF  1  7  Cl/ 

ECONOMICS  OF  THE   UNIVERSITY 
OF  WISCONSIN 


BY 


HELEN   CAMPBELL 

Author  of  "  Prisoners  of  Poverty,"  "Women  Wage-Earners,'* 
"American  Girls'  Home-Book,"  etc. 


FOURTH  IMPRESSION 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S    SONS 

NEW  YORK  LONDON 

VI  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET  24  BEDFORD  SXREST,  STRAND 

ihe  finicktrbocker  ^«S8 
1902 


Copyright,  1896 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London 


Ube  ftniclterboclier  fl)res0,  l^ew  l^otl: 


FANNY  BAKER    AMES 

THE  FRIEND   WHOSE    POWER  FOR  PUBLIC  SERVICE  HAS  BEEN  NO  LESS 

DISTINCT  THAN  HER   PRACTICAL   KNOWLEDGE  OF   THE  BEST 

THINGS  IN   THE  HOME,    AND   WHOSE  LIFE    AT 

ALL    POINTS    MEANS  BETTER    THINGS 

FOR    ALL  WOMEN 


5a.  08 


CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION 


PAGE 

vii 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE     STATICS    AND     DYNAMICS    OF    HOUSEHOI<D 
ECONOMY 

The  Relation  of  Household  Economics  to  lyife — The 
Evolution  of  the  Family — Structural  arid  Functional 
Organization  of  the  Household  ;  the  Essentials  of  Each 
and  their  Interdependence.  Arts,  Crafts,  and  Sciences 
Involved — The  Low  Popular  Opinion  of  Household 
Economics,  its  Cause  and  Effect — Personality  and 
Generalization — Savage  and  Child  to  Scientist — Evolu- 
tion of  Household  Economics — Division  of  Labor  on 
Sex  Lines  and  the  Biological  Reason  for  this  Division 
— Ascent  of  Man  Economically. 

CHAPTER  II. 


THE  HOUSE 

What  is  a  House  ?— Relation  of  House  to  Human  Life 
— Value  of  Human  Production  in  Proportion  to  Du- 
rability and  Usability — Organic  Structure  of  the  House 
with  its  Evolution — The  Kitchen  and  Derivatives — 
Bedroom  and  Derivatives — Parlor  and  Derivatives — 
Relation  of  Differentiation  and  Specialization  in  Build- 
v 


20 


vi  Contents, 

PAGX 

ing  to  the  Same  Processes  in  Social  Evolution— Hut 
to  Hotel  ;  Tent  to  Tenement— The  Typical  Farm-House 
— Industries  Represented — The  Rudimentary  Shop — 
Effect  of  Habitat — Soil,  Location,  Foundation,  Eleva- 
tion—Topographical Maps— From  Isolation  to  Aggre- 
gation—The City  Beautiful. 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE   BUILDING  OF  THE   HOUSE     .  .  .  .         40 

The  Place  of  Architecture  in  Household  Economics — 
Relation  to  other  Arts — Primitive  Architecture  and  its 
Development :  Domestic,  Civic,  and  Ecclesiastic — 
The  City  and  the  King — Ancient  Architecture,  Public 
and  Private — Herculaneum  and  Pompeii — Character  of 
Oriental  Home — Effect  of  House  on  its  Occupants — 
The  House  and  the  Family— Confusion  of  Domestic 
with  Industrial  Architecture — Rooms  and  their  Rela- 
tion— Existing  Conditions  of  Domestic  Architecture  in 
Europe  and  America— Built  to  Live  in  and  Built  to  Sell 
— Limitation  of  the  Private  Home — Gridiron  Topog- 
raphy— Need  of  Combination  and  Juxtaposition — Es- 
sentiality of  the  Separate  Home— Our  Present  Trend. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

ORGANISM  OF  THE  HOUSE 60 

Structural  Necessities — Vital  Processes  of  the  House — 
Air,  Light,  Heat,  Water,  Ventilation — Troglodytes, 
Ancient  and  Modern — Proportion  of  Air  to  Occupancy 
— Air  and  Women— Air  and  Bo3'S— "  Night  Air  " — Ven- 
tilation, Public  and  Private— Our  Schools — Light ;  its 
Influence  on  the  Body  and  Spirit — Sun-baths — The 
Artificial  Light  Habit — Heat,  Natural  and  Artificial — 
Methods  of  Application — Plumbing — Water,  Clean  and 
Unclean — Draiuage,  Private  and  Public  ;  its  Evolution, 
History,  Present  Methods,  and  Tendencies. 


Contents,  vii 

CHAPTER  V. 

PAGB 

DKCORATION 86 

Use  and  Value  of  Decoration  in  Nature  and  Art ;  its 
Laws  and  Principles — Relation  to  Pictorial  Art — Evo- 
lution and  History — Special  Development  in  Races — 
Associate  Conditions  in  Cause  and  Effect— Racial  In- 
fluences—Periods— Our  Present  Level ;  the  Highest, 
the  Lowest,  the  Average -Masculine  and  Feminine 
Decoration — "How  to  Make  Home  Beautiful" — The 
Sense  of  Beauty  in  Women — "  Traces  of  a  Woman's 
Hand  "  —  Survivals  of  Savagery  —  "  Home -Made,'* 
"  Ready-Made,"  "  Born  and  Not  Made  " — The  Power 
of  the  Home-Maker — Educational  and  Moral  Value  of 
Truth  in  Art — Artistic  Sins  and  their  Moral  Counter- 
parts—Homes, Schools,  and  Prisons — Practical  Possi- 
bilities— "  Often  in  a  Wooden  House  a  Golden  Room 
You  Find  " — Spiritual  Laws  in  Color— A  Rest  Room — 
National  Importance  of  Elevation  in  Art. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

FURNISHING IO7 

Organic  Relation  of  Furniture  to  Humanity — Man 
Manufactures  Extensions  of  his  Body  while  the 
Animals  Grow  Them — Laws  of  Construction — Use 
and  Beauty — Practical  Conditions— Destructibility — 
Relative  Value  of  Materials  :  Mineral,  Vegetable,  and 
Animal — Limitations  of  Applied  Beauty — Essential 
Principles — Use — Ease  and  Economy — Evolution  of 
House  Furniture  :  the  Seat,  the  Couch,  the  Table,  the 
Cupboard,  the  Vessel — Vessel,  Utensil,  Tool — History, 
Distribution,  Present  Status — Relation  to  Class,  In- 
dustry, Wealth,  Sex,  Age— Children's  Furniture — Car- 
pets, Rugs,  and  Cushions— Upholstery— Specialization 
and  Personality  in  Furniture — Mobility  as  a  Factor  in 
Evolution— Ideals. 


viii  Contents, 

CHAPTER  VII. 


PAGB 


HOUSEHOLD  INDUSTRIES 1 27 

Structure  and  Function — Functional  Development  of 
Society  and  Domestic  Industries — Order  of  Appearance 
of  Domestic  Industries  and  Progress  toward  Higher 
Specialization — Relation  of  Work  to  Worker— Effect 
of  Special  Industries  on  Body  and  Mind — Exercise 
more  Important  than  Environment ;  Action  than  Re- 
action— The  Division  of  Labor — Sex  in  Industry — Dis- 
tinction one  of  Degree,  not  of  Kind — Jane-of-all-Trades 
— Arrested  Development  and  Suppressed  Specializa- 
tion— Effect  of  Racial  Growth — Present  Condition  of 
Domestic  Industries  in  Relation  to  Social  Economy 
and  Personal  Development — The  Two  Remaining 
Functions,   Nutritive  and   Excretory. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE    NUTRITION  OF  THE    HOUSEHOLD  .  .      I48 

Nutritive  Function  of  the  Household  in  Relation  to 
the  Individual ;  in  Relation  to  Society — Processes  of 
Nutrition  in  Organ  ;  Organism  and  Organization — Im- 
portance of  Nutrition  to  Life  and  of  its  Secondary  Proc- 
esses to  Development — The  Struggle  for  Existence — 
Man's  Victory — No  Longer  a  Struggle  but  a  Growth — 
Household  Nutrition  Merely  a  Stage  in  the  Process — 
The  Kitchen,  the  Stomach  of  the  House— Primitive 
Nutrition  Simple  and  Private — Increase  of  Complexity 
and  Co-ordination — From  Bone  to  Banquet — Physio- 
logical Needs— Waste  and  Supply — Age  and  Occupa- 
tion—Racial Dietetics — Theories  and  Facts— Some  of 
Our  Errors— Control  of  Nutrition  and  its  Consequences. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

FOOD  AND  ITS  PREPARATION         .  .  .  .      167 

Chemical  Properties  of  Foods — Animal  and  Vegetable 
Foods  ;  Mineral  Constituents— Nutritive  Values — Our 


Contents,  ix 


PAGE 


Food  Supply  "From  the  Ground  Up" — Preparatory 
Processes,  General  and  Special — Diets — Vegetarianism 
— The  Cooking  Animal — Cooking  as  an  Art,  a  Science, 
a  Handicraft,  a  Profession — Apparatus  and  Methods  ; 
Primitive,  Ancient,  Modem,  Ivocal— Our  Advance 
in  this  Art  as  Compared  with  Others — Dietaries  for 
Infancy,  Childhood,  Youth,  Maturity,  Age,  and  for 
the  Sick — Markets  and  Marketing — Adulteration — 
Supervision  of  Foods — Civilized  lyiving. 

CHAPTER   X. 

CI.KANING  AND  ITS  PROCESSES      .  .  .  .      l88 

Cleaning  the  Essential  and  Permanent  Household 
Industry — The  Excretory  System  of  the  Household 
Organism— Friction,  Exposure,  and  Decay — Essential 
and  Necessary  Waste — The  Grave  and  the  Garret — 
Fuel  and  Flies— The  Dirt  we  Make— Cleaning,  Me- 
chanical and  Chemical — Primitive  Household  without 
Excretory  System — Semi-Annual  Attacks  on  Dirt — 
Elements  of  Cleaning  Processes ;  Sweeping,  Dusting, 
and  Washing— Development  and  Excesses — The  New 
England  Housewife  and  her  Dutch  Prototype— Fluflf 
— Dust  and  its  Dangers— Bacteria  and  Microbes — Anti- 
septic Cleaning — Light  and  Cleanliness,  Physical, 
Mental,  and  Moral — What  it  is  to  be  Clean,  and  the 
Results. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

HOUSEHOLD  SERVICE 209 

The  Servant  Question — Total  Inadequacy  of  Existing 
Treatment — Failure  to  Grasp  Essential  Distinction  be- 
tween Service  and  Labor — Service  a  Condition  Peculiar 
to  Humanity  —  Philosophy  of  Service  —  Division  of 
Labor  and  Co-ordination  —  Primitive  Co-ordination 
Compulsory — The  Army  of  Xerxes  as  Illustration  of 


X  Contents, 

PAGB 

its  Inferiority — Evolution  of  Service — Effect  of  Service 
on  Character — Status  of  Domestic  Ser\'ice  in  Social 
Economy — Present  Condition— Some  Secondary  Con- 
ditions of  Domestic  Service — The  Stranger  within  our 
Gates — Reports  of  Bureaus  of  Labor — Philadelphia 
Special  Inquiry  in  this  Connection — Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
and  its  Work — Household  Employees  in  Australia — 
The  Training  School  and  its  Results— Matters  of  Life 
and  Death — Diploma  and  License — Servant,  Employee, 
Artist,  and  Professor. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

ORGANIZED   LIVING 229 

Law  of  Organization  in  Individual  and  Species — 
Organic  Evolution,  Racial,  National,  Civic,  Domestic 
— Primitive  Conditions  of  Household  Economy — The 
Woman's  World  and  the  Man's — How  to  "  Keep  the 
Boys  at  Home  " — Survivals  and  P^udiments — Effects  on 
the  Brain — Strain  of  Contending  Eras — Relation  to 
Progress— Home  Influence,  The  Matrix  of  Ci\nlization 
—How  We  Really  Live— Flat,  Club,  Hotel,  and  Board- 
ing-House — Reaction  and  Compromise — Lines  of  De- 
velopment— Scientific  Prophecy — Asa  Gray  and  his 
Unknown  Butterfly— Our  Possibilities— The  Higher 
Education  and  the  Higher  Life. 

APPENDIX 249 

INDEX .      279 


INTRODUCTION. 

IF  the  title  of  the  present  volume  read  * '  Household 
Economies, ' '  it  might  be  received  with  more  favor, 
economies  being  the  housewife's  usual  conception 
of  economics.' 

Yet  economics  it  is,  its  prejQx  a  wonder  and  a  ques- 
tion ;  to  the  Greek  foolishness,  to  the  Jew  a  stum- 
bling block,  to  political  economists  a  misnomer.  It  is 
hoped  that  the  present  word  will  show  clearly  not 
only  the  reason  of  its  adoption,  but  the  absolute  neces- 
sity for  holding  strenuously  to  it,  as  the  keynote  to 
the  new  movement. 

For  women  and  their  thought  about  it  what  shall  we 
say  ?  From  that  da}^  in  which  all  industries  and  arts 
were  in  her  hand,  one  by  one  they  have  slipped  away. 
Of  the  ten  noted  by  Professor  O.  E.  Mason  in  his 
notable  little  book,  Woma?i's  Share  in  Pri?nitive  Cul- 
ture, in  the  conclusions  of  which  he  had  already  been 
seconded  by  Taylor,  Lubbock,  and  other  anthropolo- 
gists, all  but  two  have  passed  into  the  hands  of  men. 
These  two,  cooking  and  cleaning,  save  when  men  oc- 
casionally engage  in  them,  remain  in  nearly  as  inco- 
herent primitiveness  as  in  that  remote  day  in  which 
she — mother  and  conserver  of  the  race — first  demon- 
strated her  power  to  handle  them. 

How  has  the  change  come  and  why  ?    The  answer 


xii  Introduction, 

is  plain.  Habit,  tradition,  conservatism,  all  forces 
that  make  for  the  conservation  of  the  race,  have  united 
in  one  enormous,  all-comprehending  inertia.  The 
sense  of  duty,  the  compulsion  of  old  forms,  the  iron 
limits  of  the  past  interpretation  of  woman's  sphere — 
all  this  and  more  has  made  the  mind  of  woman  on  this 
side  inaccessible.  Man  saw  a  better  way,  used  and 
perfected  it.  Woman  saw  only  the  day's  work.  Atro- 
phy had  set  in  and  remains,  and  it  is  this  atrophy  we 
encounter  in  seeking  to  put  the  science  of  household 
economics  on  a  level  with  the  A  B  C  of  the  sciences. 
That  it  is  something  reducible  to  forms,  and  to  be 
studied  as  science — not  as  a  series  of  duties,  vague, 
indefinable,  all-pervading  and  encompassing,  summing 
up  at  last  like  the  Scotchman's  creed:  "You'll  be 
damned  if  you  do,  you'll  be  damned  if  you  don't," — 
only  a  few  here  and  there  have  admitted. 

So  it  is  that  the  work  has  gone  on.  The  "  sanctity 
of  the  home ' '  has  centred  chiefly  about  the  kitchen 
stove ;  the  boys  have  fled  from  it  with  a  speed  that 
does  credit  to  their  intelligence,  nor  can  they  by  any 
present  means  be  lured  back  again.  This  and  a 
thousand  other  things  have  resulted  from  the  system 
to  which  women  cling,  clamoring  objections  at  any 
attempt  to  set  their  feet  on  more  solid  ground.  Not 
till  the  "domestic  service"  question  became  so  des- 
perate a  complication  that  wise  women  opened  their 
eyes  and  foolish  ones  protested  louder  than  ever  did 
the  real  nature  of  the  problem  begin  to  dawn. 

On  every  side  of  woman's  life  save  this  has  been  an 
advance  marvellous  in  its  nature,  full  of  high  promise 
for  the  future  of  mankind.  And  on  this  at  last  there 
are  tokens  of  life.  A  gasp,  a  little  shudder  and  quiver, 
in    that    body   we    know    amiably   as    "the    eternal 


Introduction.  x  1 1  i 

womanly,"  but  is  there  anything  so  tangible  as  a 
"movement"  for  women,  much  less  for  universities, 
and  if  so,  how  may  its  existence  be  demonstrated? 
This  will  be  answered  farther  on,  the  opening  chapter 
defining  its  status  or  the  want  of  it  and  the  popular 
attitude  toward  it ;  all  this  constituting  the  first  three 
divisions  of  the  subject  and  bringing  us  to  the  fourth, 
the  university  movement,  its  statistics,  trend,  and  pos- 
sibilities. 

The  college-bred  woman,  a  product  not  much  more 
than  a  generation  old,  numbers  now  for  this  country 
about  three  thousand.  As  pioneer  in  the  new  field, 
she  has  found  both  rewards  and  penalties,  but  as  a 
whole  has  gone  her  way  with  enlarged  view  of  life, 
and  a  capacity  for  practical  thought  and  action  which 
it  has  sometimes  been  affirmed  the  college-bred  man 
does  not  possess.  She  has  shared  the  fate  of  most 
students  in  having  her  mental  processes  a  little  encum- 
bered and  hampered  by  bookishness.  Added  to  this 
she  has  borne  the  additional  burden  not  only  of  tradi- 
tion and  custom,  but  of  the  weighty  discourses  of 
eminent  men,  who  while  volubly  announcing  their 
views  as  to  her  brain,  her  moral  and  physical  status, 
how  she  would  marry  and  whether  she  would  marry 
at  all,  her  voting  or  not  voting,  etc.,  etc.,  have  not  ex- 
pounded their  thought  as  to  ''that  centre  and  source 
of  political  economy,  the  kitchen,"  with  the  home  at 
large  and  the  appurtenances  thereof,  the  servant  ques- 
tion and  her  relation  to  it,  and  all  the  depending  facts 
and  theories. 

Naturally  a  large  percentage  of  these  women  in  the 
beginning  chose  literary  and  scholastic  forms  of  ac- 
tivity, but  the  remainder  have  gradually  discovered 
that  a  work  lay  before  them  including  every  art  and 


xiv  Introduction, 

science  still  marked  on  the  map  of  the  past  and  of 
to-day  ''unknown."  The  American  mechanic,  they 
had  learned,  owed  his  position  as  leader  of  the  world 
to  the  fact  of  *'  his  readiness  to  change  old  ways  for 
new  and  better  devices. ' '  Had  not  the  time  then  come 
for  the  American  housewife  to  follow  in  his  steps? 

With  the  feeling  out  in  these  lines  came  the  knowl- 
edge that  the  bogie  known  as  the  ' '  servant  question  ' ' 
was  no  bogie,  but  a  natural  process  of  evolution,  the 
matter  having  been  admirably  stated  by  Mrs.  Helen  K. 
Starrett : 

"In  a  large  part  the  insubordination  of  servants  arises  from 
the  growing  sense  of  unwilhngness  to  be  directed  and  governed 
by  the  individual.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  age  which  rebels  against 
the  dictates  of  the  individual,  but  submits  freely  to  the  despo- 
tism of  an  organization." 

College  women  meditated  on  these  things  ;  college 
women  demonstrated  in  their  own  homes,  many  of 
them,  full  capacity  to  meet  and  master  the  daily  prob- 
lems of  living,  and  speculated  as  to  why  the  initial 
scheme  of  Vassar  College  which  had  planned  for  a 
course  of  domestic  economy  had  fallen  through  ;  why 
Wellesley  found  it  hard  to  live  up  to  her  plan  for  work 
from  each  student,  and  Holyoke  no  less,  Smith  and 
Bryn  Mawr  calmly  turning  their  backs  on  the  whole 
question. 

As  it  then  stood  these  last  were  in  the  right.  It  was 
a  trade  school  that  was  wanted  ;  a  place  ' '  where, ' '  as 
Mrs.  Ellen  H.  Richards  puts  it,  ' '  the  apprentice  has 
to  go  through  all  the  steps  day  by  day  mechanically 
until  he  cannot  help  doing  them  right."  Every  effort 
to  teach  domestic  economy  had  been  on  this  plan  and 
by  divine  appointment  it  has  failed.     The  foundation 


Introduction,  xv 

laws  of  matter  and  form,  the  principles  of  trades,  with 
just  enough  practice  to  illustrate  them,  can  be  taught 
in  a  few  months. 

While  these  things  moved  slowly  toward  the  fore- 
ground, facts  had  at  last  become  perceptible  to  the 
university  mind,  not  as  a  whole,  but  in  isolated  cases. 
Agricultural  colleges,  notably  Illinois  and  Iowa,  had 
tried  the  trade-school  theory  and  failed,  each  attempt, 
however,  being  of  inestimable  advantage  in  the  way 
of  reconstruction  of  thought.  The  Collegiate  Alumnae 
in  the  meantime  formed  a  Sanitary  Science  Club  and 
issued  a  little  manual  on  House  Sanitation,  the  first 
suggestion  of  the  large  work  in  the  same  lines  now 
going  on  under  Dean  Marion  Talbot  in  Chicago  Uni- 
versity. 

At  this  point  we  may  begin  to  number  the  univer- 
sities in  which  such  work  has  actually  been  done.  That 
of  Chicago,  with  its  large  endowment  and  ample 
facilities  for  laboratory  work,  leads,  so  far  as  this  phase 
is  concerned.  But  the  University  of  Wisconsin  in  its 
School  of  Economics  may  fairly  claim  to  have  shared 
the  same  thought  at  the  same  time  and  struggled  to 
give  it  more  material  form.  Mrs.  Adams,  the  culti- 
vated and  large-minded  wife  of  the  President,  urged  on 
the  movement,  and  Dr.  Richard  T.  Ely,  wise  and  far- 
seeing  as  is  his  wont,  includes  in  his  plan  a  course  of 
twelve  lectures  on  household  economics,  given  under 
his  direction  in  the  spring  of  1895,  ^^^  urges  the  add- 
ing of  suitable  buildings  with  funds  enough  to  fully 
equip  a  working  department. 

The  course  given  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin 
was  made  as  closely  condensed  as  possible,  twelve 
lectures  being  all  that  the  spring  term  could  carry. 
No  building  for  technical  work  is  yet  planned,  and  the 


xvi  Introduction, 

lecturer  is  compelled  to  give  the  results  of  practice 
only,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  an  outline  of  a  subject 
which  means,  at  its  fullest,  three  years  of  university 
work. 

The  University  of  Illinois  had  a  tentative  course  fif- 
teen years  ago  on  the  trade-school  basis  and  dropped  it 
for  lack  of  both  funds  and  interest.  Now  with  a  fresh 
and  more  vital  sense  of  need,  it  has  secured  a  repetition 
of  eight  of  the  lectures  given  at  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin, and  hopes  presently  to  organize  a  fully  equipped 
department.  Lake  Forest,  Illinois,  has  a  lecturer  and 
a  limited  but  excellant  plan  of  work,  the  Northwestern 
University,  at  Evanston,  is  questioning  as  to  action  in 
the  same  direction,  and  Mrs.  Kedzie,  of  the  Kansas 
State  Agricultural  College,  has  had  distinct  success 
in  work  there.  Inquiries  have  also  come  in  from 
many  co-educational  colleges  and  from  many  of  the 
larger  seminaries  which  prepare  for  them.  From  the 
remote  West,  as  Washington  and  California,  to  the 
middle  West,  the  question  appears  to  be  under  active 
discussion,  and  a  recent  letter  from  Winnipeg  begs  for 
all  possible  information  on  the  general  subject.  Many 
of  the  agricultural  colleges  are  organizing  departments, 
with  admirably  trained  heads,  and  all  are  discussing 
the  special  needs  of  women  in  this  direction. 

In  Vassar  College,  Professor  Lucy  Salmon  has  de- 
voted much  time  and  energy  to  a  study  of  domestic 
service,  having  prepared  and  sent  out  thousands  of 
blanks  with  inquiries  to  be  filled  in,  the  result  being 
embodied  under  the  title  "  A  Statistical  Inquiry  Con- 
cerning Domestic  Service,"  in  the  papers  of  the  Ameri- 
can Statistical  Society,  June,  1892.  Others  in  the  same 
line  will  be  found  in  The  Cosinopolitan,  July,  1893,  and 
the  New  E?igland  Magazine,  April,  1894.     Vassar  itself 


Introduction,  xvii 

does  not  yet  see  the  necessity  for  sharing  in  the  new 
movement,  nor  singnlarly  enough  do  any  of  the 
colleges  exclusively  for  women  ;  though  many  of  them 
have  alumnae  who  are  active  workers  in  this  field,  and 
plan  the  preparation  of  various  hand-books  in  addition 
to  the  one  on  Household  Sanitation  already  in  use. 
Mrs.  KUen  H.  Richards,  of  the  Boston  Institute  of 
Technology,  has  been  an  active  worker  in  organization 
and  stands  as  a  high  authority  in  the  chemistry  of 
foods,  their  adulterations,  etc.,  Mrs.  Mary  Hinman 
Abel  being  equally  well  known,  and  both  being  fitted 
for  every  phase  of  university  work  in  Household 
Economics  as  a  whole. 

I  have  before  me  a  series  of  letters  from  college  presi- 
dents, all  inquiring  as  to  possibilities  and  expressing  a 
keen  interest  in  the  matter.  Cornell  is  one  of  these  ; 
but  the  feeling  is  much  stronger  in  the  West  than  in 
the  East,  Nebraska,  Iowa  State  University  and  Iowa 
College  at  Grinnell,  with  many  others,  expressing  not 
only  interest,  but  full  intention  to  get  to  work  them- 
selves as  soon  as  money  can  be  appropriated  to  this 
end. 

In  California,  though  hampered  by  the  same  diffi- 
culty of  lack  of  money,  Stanford  University  has  been 
doing  admirable  work  under  the  guidance  of  Mrs. 
Mary  Roberts  Smith,  a  graduate  of  Cornell,  for  some 
years  professor  of  history  at  Wellesley  College,  and 
later  at  Leland  Stanford,  who  is  bending  all  the  ener- 
gies of  her  fine  mind  and  personality  to  these  new  lines 
of  work.  I  give  the  outline  followed  by  her,  as  illus- 
trative of  what  can  be  done  without  laboratory  or  other 
working  appliances. 


xviii  IntrodMction. 


I,EI.AND  STANFORD  JUNIOR  UNIVERSITY. 
ECONOMICS  AND  SOCIAI,  SCIENCE. 

A.  Economic  function  of  the  housewife. 

B.  Domestic  architecture. 

1.  Location,  foundation,  exterior  plans  (elevation). 

2.  Interiors  :  drawing  simple  house  plans. 

3.  Visiting  houses  criticising  plans. 

4.  Relations  of  rooms. 

C.  Plumbing  and  drainage. 

1.  Bacteria. 

2.  Principles  of  plumbing  :  pipes,  closets,  lavatories,  baths, 
sinks. 

3.  Disinfection  and  pests. 

D.  Ventilation. 

E.  Heating  :  principles  of  combustion. 

1.  Stoves,  fireplaces,  steam,  hot  water. 

2.  Varieties  and  value  of  fuels. 
E.     Lighting  :  lamps,  gas,  electricity. 
G.     Artistic  and  economic  furnishing. 
H.    Food. 

1.  Chemistry  of  food. 

2.  Composition  of  food  materials. 

3.  Chemistry  of  cookery. 

4.  Diet  of  students  and  children. 

5.  Adulteration. 

6.  Vegetarianism. 

7.  Beverages. 

8.  Cooking  apparatus  :  range,  gas,  gasoline,  aladdin  oven, 
electricity. 

9.  Marketing  and  supplies. 
I.     Domestic  labor. 

1.  Statistical,  economic  and  sociological  basis  of  domestic 

service. 

2.  Co-operative  living. 

3.  Time  work  and  piece  work. 

4.  Doing  one's  own  work. 
J.     Household  Finance. 

I.  Accounts,  bills,  receipts. 
During  the  course  the  students  made  frequent  visits  to  the 


Introduction,  xix 

house  of  some  of  the  ladies  of  the  faculty,  criticising  and  receiv- 
ing instruction,  especially  in  household  apparatus  and  plans. 
Although  we  have  no  household  laboratory,  several  demonstra- 
tions were  performed  before  the  class,  illustrating  points  in 
chemistry,  microscopy  and  bacteriology  as  applied  to  the  house- 
hold. The  course  was  further  elaborated  by  some  excellent 
lectures,  by 

Prof.  A.  B.  Clark  on  Household  Architecture,  Convenience 
and  Economy. 

Prof.  B.  C.  Brown  on  the  Principles  of  Artistic  Decoration. 

Dr.  T.  B.  Wood  on  Bacteriology  and  Domestic  Hygiene. 


This  is  the  summary  of  the  university  movement  as 
it  stands  to-day,  widespread  as  the  thought  seems  to 
be,  still  lacking  the  strong  grip  that  insures  immediate 
adoption  of  an  organized  system  of  work.  The  human 
animal,  its  ways,  needs,  rights,  is  still  only  indirectly 
studied.  Men  and  women  leave  college  in  possession 
of  full  knowledge  as  to  the  interior  structure  of  the 
clam,  what  food  it  demands,  what  habitat  best  develops 
him,  but  their  own  is  a  sealed  book.  Dyspepsia  rules 
with  professor  and  student  alike  ;  air  of  absolute  foul- 
ness is  peacefully  consumed  b}^  the  most  intelligent, 
and  how  to  clothe  the  human  body  is  still  apparently  an 
unsolvable  problem.  Blank  ignorance  on  all  these  points 
is  accepted  without  the  faintest  thought  of  its  disgrace  or 
its  danger.  The  human  animal  feminine  trusts  that  in- 
stinct will  teach  her  how  to  rule  a  house  and  guide  her 
young.  The  human  animal  masculine  believes  that  Prov- 
idence arranges  these  things,  and  that  scientific  cook- 
ery, sanitation,  and  all  that  are  the  fad  of  a  small  school 
of  cranks.  In  the  meantime  social  problems  of  every 
order,  born  of  this  gross  ignorance  and  indifference, 
press  upon  us  and  clamor  for  a  solution  the  untrained 
mind  can  never  give,  while  legislators  for  state  univer- 


XX  Introduction, 

sities  and  boards  for  private  ones  are  not  yet  awake  to 

these  facts  or  the  lesson  time  holds  for  all. 

We  come  now  to  another  form  of  the  movement,  that 
embodied  in  the  great  Institutes,  Pratt,  Drexel,  the 
College  for  the  Training  of  Teachers,  and  Armour,  a 
portion  of  the  general  University  Extension  movement, 
all  of  them  doing  admirable  work.  But  the  directors 
of  the  * '  Domestic  Science ' '  department  in  each  seem 
all  to  unite  in  the  conclusion  that  a  larger  handling  is 
essential  and  that  the  relation  of  home  to  state  must  be 
taught  as  it  never  has  been  taught  before.  Side  by  side 
with  this  conclusion  and  the  search  for  better  methods 
goes  the  work  of  the  National  Household  Economic 
Association,  formed  in  1893,  having  branches  in  many 
of  our  cities,  state  presidents  in  all  the  states,  and  a 
definite  plan  for  work  as  follows  : 

The  object  of  this  association  shall  be  : — i.  To  awaken  the  pub- 
lic mind  to  the  importance  of  establishing  bureaus  of  informa- 
tion where  there  can  be  an  exchange  of  wants  and  needs  between 
employer  and  employed,  in  every  department  of  home  and  social 
life.  2.  To  promote  among  members  of  the  association  a  more 
scientific  knowledge  of  the  economic  value  of  various  foods  and 
fuels  ;  a  more  intelligent  understanding  of  correct  plumbing 
and  drainage  in  our  homes,  as  well  as  need  for  pure  water  and 
good  light  in  a  sanitarily  built  house.  3,  To  secure  skilled 
labor  in  every  department  in  our  homes,  and  to  organize  schools 
of  household  science  and  service. 

The  Federation  of  Woman's  Clubs  has  accepted  this 
form  as  a  basis  for  a  section  in  every  woman's  club  for 
the  study  of  household  economics,  and  programmes  for 
this  work  have  been  prepared  by  Dr.  Mary  Green,  Mrs. 
Kate  Watson,  and  Mrs.  Helen  Campbell.  Chicago  is 
discussing  earnestly  the  possibilities  of  a  great  training 
school  for  mistresses  and  maids,  the  organization  of 


Introduction,  xxi 

household  service  on  a  new  basis,  the  forming  of  a  gen- 
uine employment  bureau,  with  graded  rates  of  payment, 
and  great  central  offices — another  Bourse  de  Travail, 
with  even  larger  scope  than  that  most  admirable 
bureau.  Philadelphia,  in  its  Civic  League,  has  formed 
a  branch  for  this  study  and  the  investigations  connected 
with  it,  and  has  been  preparing  what  is  likely  to  prove 
a  valuable  report  of  their  work  in  the  line  of  domestic 
service.  Syracuse  is  also  doing  admirable  work. 
New  York,  in  a  branch  of  its  Civic  League  under  the 
direction  of  Mrs.  Robert  Abbe  and  other  women  as  well 
known,  is  planning  for  investigation  in  these  lines,  and 
Boston  is  making  practical  tests  of  some  of  the  new 
theories.  In  short  the  new-comer  knocks  at  every 
door,  and  in  this  swift-moving  generation  it  must,  from 
the  very  nature  of  things,  find  speedy  entrance — and  a 
recognized  footing — wherever  thinking  men  and  women 
work  together  for  that  future  which  is  theirs  in  com- 
mon. 

I  wish  to  give  here  my  very  hearty  thanks  to  Mrs. 
Charlotte  P.  Stetson,  whose  deep  interest  has  at  various 
points  taken  the  form  of  co-operation,  to  Dr.  Richard 
T.  Ely,  for  his  constant  faith  in  the  work  to  be  done, 
and  to  Mr.  Paul  Tyner,  for  efficient  help  both  as  critic 
and  in  technical  lines. 

Boston,  October,  1896. 


HOUSEHOLD   ECONOMICS 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  STATICS   AND    DYNAMICS   OF   HOUSEHOLD 
ECONONY. 

The  Relation  of  Household  Economics  to  Life — The  Evolution 
of  the  Family — Structural  and  Functional  Organization  of 
the  Household ;  the  Essentials  of  Each  and  their  Interde- 
pendence. Arts,  Crafts,  and  Sciences  Involved — The  Low 
Popular  Opinion  of  Household  Economics,  its  Cause  and 
Effect — Personality  and  Generalization— Savage  and  Child 
to  Scientist — Evolution  of  Household  Economics — Divi- 
sion of  Labor  on  Sex  Lines  and  the  Biological  Reason  for 
this  Division — Ascent  of  Man  Economically. 

IT  is  a  study  hitherto  unknown,  upon  which  we  are 
about  to  enter ;  a  study  the  ground  of  which  has 
existed  from  the  beginning  of  human  history  and 
behind  even  that  beginning,  yet  the  science  of  which 
has  not  yet,  in  any  real  sense,  been  given  to  the  world. 
As  for  a  long  time  we  lived  and  died,  fought,  loved, 
worked,  suffered,  and  enjoyed  without  any  knowledge 
of  the  anatomy  and  physiology  of  the  human  body  ;  and 
as  for  a  long  time  nations  rose  and  fell,  flourishing  and 
struggling  as  conditions  varied,  without  any  knowledge 
of  social  economics  ;  so  have  households  increased  and 


2  Household  Economics. 

multiplied  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  carrying  the  life  of 
man  within  them,  and  undergoing  the  most  vivid  ex- 
tremes of  success  and  failure,  pain  and  difficulty,  ease 
and  pleasure,  without  any  knowledge  of  Household 
Economics,  or  indeed  that  such  a  thing  existed  or  could 
exist.  A  definition  is  then  the  first  thing  needed. 
Let  us  see  if  we  can  compass  one. 

The  statics  and  dynamics  of  Household  Economy 
are  to  the  household  organism  precisely  what  anatomy 
and  physiology  are  to  the  phj^sical  organism.  In  the 
individual,  in  the  household,  in  the  state,  is  organic 
life  ;  and  until  that  organic  life  is  understood, — its 
essential  structure  and  functions, — we  cannot  know 
how  to  maintain  its  health  or  promote  its  develop- 
ment. 

Household  Economics  is  the  connecting  link  between 
the  physical  economics  of  the  individual  and  the  social 
economics  of  the  state.  Its  relation  to  human  life  is 
of  the  most  intimate  and  vital  nature. 

To  the  individual,  the  condition  of  Household  Eco- 
nomics means  the  health  and  happiness  of  his  life.  So 
vital  a  process  as  the  nutrition  of  humanit}^  lies  in  its 
most  important  stages — those  of  selection,  preparation, 
and  consumption, — almost  entirely  within  the  range  of 
this  science. 

The  life  of  the  family,  with  all  that  it  means  to  the 
life  of  the  race,  is  absolutely  dependent  on  the  house- 
hold life.  Whether  we  live  or  die,  and  how  we  live  or 
die,  are  largely  determined  by  our  household  condition. 
The  household  and  its  healthy  action  is  to  the  family 
what  our  own  body  and  its  healthy  action  is  to  our 
own  soul.  The  family  without  the  household  is  but  a 
disembodied  spirit.  And  the  family  in  a  disordered 
household  is  but  a  sick  and  sorry  spirit  at  best. 


Statics  a7id  Dynamics,  3 

One  might  almost  say  of  the  relation  of  Household 
Economics  to  life  that  it  is  life  ;  for  life,  beyond  that  of 
the  solitar}'  savage,  could  not  exist  without  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  relation  of  this  great  science 
to  social  life  is  equally  close,  equally  important.  The 
household,  in  its  evolution  of  related  industries,  is  the 
parent  of  the  state.  Aristotle  is  right  in  his  far-seeing 
statement  that  the  state  comes  first ;  but  that  prece- 
dence is  the  precedence  of  the  artist,  who  tells  you 
that  you  must  rightly  draw  the  whole  before  you 
can  rightl}^  draw  the  part ; — the  greater  includes  the 
less. 

But  to  the  evolutionist,  the  family  comes  first  in 
order  of  development  ;  as  it  was  through  the  develop- 
ment of  the  family  instincts,  primarily  the  maternal, 
that  any  combination  of  men  became  possible.  The 
evolution  of  a  home  was  as  strenuous  and  tremendous 
a  business  as  the  evolution  of  a  mother  and  to  under- 
stand either  one  or  the  other  some  very  serious  study 
in  biology  is  necessary.  Mothers  had  to  come  first, 
and  Drummond  gives  the  process  in  that  wonderful 
eighth  chapter  in  his  Ascent  of  Ma?i^  "  The  Evolution 
of  a  Mother." 

With  the  forming  of  that  family  which  the  very 
naturalist  has  had  to  call  Mammalia,  the  family  of 
mothers,  came  the  final  unfolding.  The  beginning 
of  protective  maternity  was  hardly  more  than  a  dumb 
instinct  feeling  out  toward  the  thing  to  come.  The 
hunting  woman-savage,  still  more  animal  than  human, 
stirred  by  the  cry  of  the  rain-pelted  baby  slung  at  her 
back,  sought  some  covert — a  place  wherein  to  make  a 
nest  for  her  young.  Bare  earth,  the  shelter  of  tree  or 
rock  might  suffice  her  own  need — but  the  baby  must 
have  something  better.     So  began  the  cave-dwelling 


4  Household  Economics, 

era,  the  lake  dwellers,  the  stone  age, — all  that  marvel- 
lous story  of  time  and  the  generations  of  time.  At 
last,  out  of  cave  and  hut  and  every  mere  make-shift  of 
habitation  grew,  bit  by  bit,  the  wonder  of  comfort,  of 
beauty  and  fitness  embodied  to-day  in  the  noblest  form 
of  human  dwelling,  the  seal  and  token  of  the  evolution 
of  the  family. 

This  is  the  central  fact  of  civilization. 

"  If  the  crowning  work  of  organic  evolution  is  the  Mammalia, 
the  consummation  of  the  Mammalia  is  the  Family.  Physi- 
cally, psychically,  ethically,  the  Family  is  the  masterpiece  of 
evolution.  The  creation  of  Evolution,  it  was  destined  to  be- 
come the  most  active  instrument  and  ally  which  Evolution  has 
ever  had.  For  what  is  its  evolutionary  significance  ?  It  is  the 
generator  and  the  repository,  of  the  forces  which  alone  can 
carry  out  the  social  and  moral  progress  of  the  world.  There 
they  rally  when  they  become  enfeebled  ;  there  their  excesses 
are  counterbalanced,  and  thence  they  radiate  out,  refined  and 
reinforced,  to  do  their  holy  work."  ' 

It  is  very  clear,  then,  that  the  vaguest  and  loosest  of 
social  organisms  is  not  found  until  some  degree  of  fam- 
ily organism  exists.  Organism  stands  simply  for  the 
interdependent  relation  of  structure  and  function  ;  and 
not  until  the  interrelation  of  service  and  defence  in  the 
primitive  household  established  connection  between 
individuals  was  there  the  possibility  of  such  interrela- 
tion in  a  state. 

The  household  is  a  living  organism ; — that  is  the 
keynote  to  its  study.  A  thing  cannot  be  understood 
until  we  know  whether  it  be  alive  or  dead,  whether 
its  parts  are  connected  in  any  essential  order,  and 
whether  its  processes  have  any  essential  connection 
with  its  parts.     All  that  can  be  predicted  as  to  the 

^  Drummond's  The  Ascent  of  Man,  p.  316. 


Statics  and  Dynamics,  5 

essentials  of  any  living  organism  is  true  of  the  house- 
hold. It  is  a  form  of  human  life,  outside  the  physical 
life,  inside  the  social  life,  having  its  own  economy. 

Its  structural  demands  vary,  but  certain  essentials 
always  remain.  The  structure  of  the  household  must 
provide  for  the  accommodation  of  the  related  beings 
who  are  its  life,  and  accommodation  for  the  activities 
which  maintain  their  lives  in  that  relation. 

Its  functional  demands  vary,  but  certain  essentials 
always  remain.  The  functions  of  the  household  must 
fulfil  those  activities  which  are  essential  to  its  main- 
tenance. 

This  structure  and  these  functions  are  as  truly  or- 
ganic as  any  imaginable.  The  one  maintains  the 
other, — function  forming  organ, — and  neither  existing 
alone. 

The  industries  which  form  our  household  functions 
vary  widel}^  in  kind  and  in  degree.  This  has  been  true 
from  the  time  when  all  that  was  done  beyond  fighting 
was  done  at  home,  to  the  time  when  nothing  shall 
remain  to  the  household  labors  but  the  immediate 
personal  care  of  the  family. 

There  are  special  reasons  why,  at  the  outset  of  our 
work  together,  a  kind  of  attention  is  demanded  which 
it  may  be  a  difl[icult  matter  to  give.  On  the  one  hand, 
we  have  heard  all  our  lives  of  the  importance  of  the 
knowledge  we  are  beginning  to  call  ' '  Domestic  Sci- 
ence," or  "  Household  Science,"  according  as  we  in 
our  own  minds  limit  or  extend  the  term.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  have  seen  the  application  of  this  knowledge 
practised  by  the  lowest  class  of  people  in  the  lowest 
form  of  labor.  It  is  my  business  to  introduce  to  you 
not  a  new  science  attended  only  by  the  difficulties  of 
the  unknown ;  but  an  old   one,    long  misunderstood, 


6  Household  Economics, 

and  buried  under  centuries  of  densest  prejudice. 
Therefore,  I  appeal  from  Caesar  unto  Caesar  ;  from 
the  minds  of  women  accustomed  to  regard  Household 
Science  as  a  thing  born  of  and  guided  by  instinct,  to 
the  minds  of  scholars  trained  in  the  new  scientific 
thought  that  knows  nor  small  nor  great  in  TRUTH. 

The  stud}^  that  lies  before  us  is  not  ' '  how  to  keep 
house."  This  course  does  not  propose  to  graduate 
licensed  housekeepers  nor  trained  servants.  We  are 
to  study  those  branches  of  social  econoni}-  which  are 
involved  in  housekeeping,  the  sciences,  arts,  and  crafts 
therein  practised,  and  their  effect  on  human  life. 
Thus  far  there  has  been  little  attempt  to  consider  the 
matter  as  a  whole,  or  to  bring  to  bear  upon  it  the 
methods  which  govern  our  investigation  of  the  sciences 
in  general.  Where  such  attempt  has  been  made,  we 
have  dealt  W'ith  scattered  details  and  ignored  general 
principles. 

It  is  not  a  series  of  developments  from  human  life 
that  we  are  to  treat,  however,  but  human  life  itself,  at 
its  roots.  From  these  roots  have  grown  innumerable 
activities,  some  practically  perfected,  others  still 
unfinished. 

It  is  a  view,  then,  of  a  coherent  whole  that  we 
want ;  not  of  one  or  another  of  the  integral  parts  and 
activities  of  the  household,  but  of  that  imelligent 
relation  of  all  its  parts  and  activities  to  a  common 
purpose,  which  we  call  Household  Economics.  Under 
this  head  are  grouped  as  requisite  for  understanding  of 
our  present  household  life,  the  following  subjects  : 

A  knowledge  of  situation  suitable  for  human  homes, 
soil,  climate,  elevation, — and  their  relation  to  health 
and  character. 

Architecture— QQ\\^\^^x^^  not  only  for  outside  beauty 


Statics  and  Dynamics,  7 

— a  thing  to  be  looked  at — but  also  for  structural  use 
and  value  ;  with  the  relation  of  rooms  and  their  uses 
to  the  general  plan. 

And  then  for  this  body  the  thing  the  world  craves 
and  is  finding  in  large  measure  from  day  to  day — 
light,  light,  and  always  more  light !  Its  ofiice  in  the 
household  life,  as  in  the  civic, — the  full  mission  and 
meaning  of  sunlight  for  every  nook  and  corner,  and, 
following  hard  upon  it,  those  other  necessities  for  the 
house — heating,  airing,  watering,  and  draining. 

Jean  Mace  in  his  charming  History  of  a  Mouthful 
of  Bread  compares  the  circulation  of  the  blood  to  a 
water  supply  ;  and  he  is  right.  As  much  water  as 
comes  into  the  house  must  go  safely  out  of  it,  unless 
we  want  to  swim. 

At  once,  then,  comes  demand  for  at  least  a  partial 
knowledge  of  the  sciences  that  must  work  for  us  in 
each  of  these  lines  :  chemistry,  physiology,  the  law^s  of 
hygiene  and  sanitation  ;  every  force  that  can  be  brought 
to  bear  on  the  problem  of  living,  and  its  handling  in 
such  fashion  that  all  men  may  have  and  know  the 
best. 

One  may  well  pause  here  for  a  moment  for  one 
thought  as  to  the  deeper  meaning  of  this  house  which 
we  are  to  build  together,  and  no  one  has  said  it  all 
more  perfectly  than  William  Gannett  in  his  The  House 
Beautiful,  which  ought  to  be  in  every  household  in  the 
land.  Men  and  birds  seem  to  him  much  of  the  same 
order  in  their  foragings  on  Nature  and  rearrangement 
of  the  plunder  according  to  their  respective  tastes.  But 
for  the  creation  of  man's  hands,  is  another  word  out  of 
a  Bible  verse. 

"  '  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  Heaven  ;  Behold  the  tabernacle 
of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall 


8  Household  Eco7iomics, 

be  his  people.'  Call  the  great  Power  God  or  by  what  name  we 
will,  that  Power  dwells  with  us  in  so  literal  a  fashion,  that  every 
stone  and  rafter,  every  table,  spoon,  and  paper  scrap  bears  stamp 
and  signatmre  to  eyes  that  read  aright ;  '  The  house  in  which  we 
live  is  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands.'  " 

As  the  body  is  forever  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
to  be  made  fair  and  clean  and  perfect  for  that  indwell- 
ing spirit,  so  the  house  stands  as  the  shell  in  which 
that  body  must  do  its  work,  hampered  and  hindered  if 
imperfectness  has  been  admitted,  helped  and  strength- 
ened if  wisdom  has  builded  the  home.  Bear  it  in  mind 
all  the  way  through,  that  this  structure  is  a  vital  thing, 
and  then  the  processes  that  follow  and  fall  into  line 
will  take  on  new  meaning  and  carry  larger  significance. 

With  the  skeleton  well  arranged  comes  the  beautiful 
body,  and  there  follows  as  naturally  as  for  the  human 
body,  DECORATION,  a  much  abused  word,  but  full 
of  fine  possibilities.  Color!  Do  you  know  what  that 
can  mean  ?  Not  screaming  combinations  that,  as  the 
French  say,  "  fly  at  the  eye,"  but  soft  shadings  and 
tintings  with  points  of  clear  color,  as  a  flower  grows 
and  as  a  woman  should  dress.  DesigJi  !  Wisdom  must 
enter  into  that,  and  sense  of  form  and  the  beauty  and 
power  of  true  lines.  Line  and  color  together,  what 
they  mean — what  they  are  to  us  ! 

Our  soul-life  is  modified  hour  by  hour  by  these  stone 
or  wooden  bodies  in  which  we  move  about  ;  especially 
are  the  children  modified,  soul  and  body,  and  for  this 
we  see  full  reasons  in  the  words  already  quoted  from 
Gannett. 

Furnishing  follows,  holding  all  I  have  suggested  as 
to  form  and  color,  limited  and  ennobled  by  use,  and 
giving  us  a  study  full  of  profound  significance. 

Then  come  in  due  order  the  following  industries,  all 


Statics  and  Dynamics.  9 

growing  out  of  household  life  and  needs,  two  of  them 
always  inseparable,  cooking  and  cleaning, — followed 
by  repairing,  renewing,  serving,  nursing,  teaching. 

To  perform  or  to  properly  superintend  these  indus- 
tries is  required  a  knowledge  of  the  chemistry  of  foods 
and  of  cleansing  processes,  and  to  some  degree  of  agri- 
culture. Physiology  is  absolutely  necessary,  and  hy- 
giene and  general  sanitation  go  hand  in  hand  with 
both. 

All  these  knowledges  are  involved  in  household  eco- 
nomics. It  is  the  administration  of  human  life, — neitner 
more  nor  less.  Not  all  of  it,  but  all  of  it  up  to  a  cer- 
tain point.  Not  knowing  these  things  is  largelj^  what 
keeps  our  rate  of  living  down  so  low — and  results  in 
turning  out  as  our  home  product,  weak,  unhealthy,  and 
inharmonious  lives,  to  the  deterioration  of  the  world. 
To  rightly  understand  them  and  apply  them,  will  make 
a  new  people.  But  till  the  minds  of  college  women, 
trained  to  logical  processes  of  thought,  looking  with 
clear,  dispassionate  eyes  at  the  medley  that  makes  the 
past,  and  with  trained  and  skilful  hands  seeking  to 
bring  order  out  of  the  chaos, — until  these  have  settled 
the  meaning  and  bearing  of  the  science  of  Household 
Economics,  the  organization  that  will  change  the  face 
of  the  world  remains  impossible.  Growth  in  power  or 
organization  is  the  mark  of  all  progressive  civilization  ; 
and  it  is  the  lack  of  this  quality  which  has  left  House- 
hold Economics  where  it  is. 

Popular  opinion  on  the  subject  of  our  study  is  very 
low.  The  whole  field  of  study  has  suffered  mainly  in 
that  the  thinking  half  of  humanity  have  dismissed  it 
scornfully  as  "women's  work" — thus  snowing  me 
limits  of  their  thinking.  Being  in  the  hands  of  women, 
it  was  supposed,  on  the  one  hand,  to  be  of  a  simple  and 


lo  Household  Economics. 

easy  nature,  as  the  poet  tells  us  in  his  favorite  phrase, 
**  light  household  tasks," — a  singularly  inapplicable 
term  for  the  labor  of  washing,  scrubbing,  sweeping, 
and  the  endless  stepping  and  standing  involved  in 
domestic  industry.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  sup- 
posed,— the  whole  scheme  was  supposititious, — that, 
being  the  work  of  women,  and  women  being  creatures 
gifted  with  a  superhuman  faculty  of  intuition,  that  they 
knew  how  to  do  their  work  by  instinct.  Any  deficiency 
shown  in  intuition  was  supposed  to  be  made  up  by 
tireless  industry,  and  if  things  went  wrong  in  the 
household  economy  it  must  be  due  to  one  or  two  things 
— either  laziness  or  lack  of  "  womanliness,"  i.e.,  intui- 
tion. The  general  low  status  of  domestic  industries, 
if  considered  at  all,  was  considered  as  owing  to  the 
nature  of  women,  and  dismissed  with  pit)^  or  contempt. 

In  the  meantime,  this  ignored  system  of  household 
econom)^  continued  to  follow  its  own  laws  and  to  work 
its  own  results,  and  the  progress  of  the  world  and  the 
life  of  mankind  hung  upon  its  footsteps.  As  the  woman 
is  the  home,  as  the  home  is  the  nation, — the  popular 
opinion  of  household  economj^  is  as  much  mistaken  as 
popular  opinion  is  regarding  some  other  questions. 

The  cause  of  this  low  opinion  is  partl)^,  as  I  have  said, 
from  its  being  women's  work,  ana  so  not  studied  by 
men,  partly  to  a  similar  feeling,  dating  from  that  period 
in  early  history  and  prehistoric  times  when  all  such  labor 
was  performed  by  slaves,  partly  to  the  low  price  paid 
for  household  labor, — a  fact  due  mainly  to  the  two 
causes  just  mentioned, — and  partly  to  an  instinctive 
feeling  in  the  heart  of  the  seeker  for  truth  to  go  up 
and  out — not  in. 

So  we  have  quartered  the  earth  and  subdued  it ;  we 
have  burrowed  beneath  its  surface  ;  we  have  measured 


Statics  and  Dynamics.  1 1 

the  ocean  depths  and  charted  its  oozy  floor ;  we  have 
diliQ:entlv  striven  to  reach  the  North  Pole  ;  we  have 
exultantly  explored  the  heavens  with  telescopes  and 
hj'potheses  to  aid  ;  we  have  even  turned  our  attention 
to  humanity, — an  interesting  field  manifesting  marked 
peculiarities  and  v^ariations, — but  we  have  not  yet 
learned  in  all  our  wanderings  this  simple  precept : 
"Look  at  home!  " 

The  effect  of  this  ignorance  of  the  very  fountain  of 
progress,  has  been  to  retard  the  growth  of  civilization 
most  materially  and  to  shorten  and  embitter  human 
life.  Consider  for  a  moment  the  order  of  importance 
of  human  activities.  Our  business  here  is  to  be  better 
human  beings — to  be  better  and  to  leave  behind  us 
those  better  than  ourselves.  Unless  the  people  are 
improved  by  it,  civilization  is  a  failure.  The  whole 
use  and  purpose  of  every  thing  we  do,  from  the  work 
of  the  farmer  to  that  of  the  poet,  is  to  make  better 
people.  The  important  time  to  improve  people  is  in 
youth,  because,  Weissmann  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing, that  improvement  is  transmitted  ;  the  growth 
that  is  made  before  reproduction  is  the  most  essential  ; 
and  the  growth  that  is  made  afterward  is  most  valuable 
as  it  affects  the  young.  These  years  of  youth  most 
vital  of  all  to  true  progress,  are  necessarily  passed  at 
home,  and  therefore  the  home  is  the  most  important 
place  in  the  world.  The  highest  duty  of  the  state  is  to 
so  legislate  and  administer  as  to  make  good  homes,  for 
it  is  only  a  larger  home,  and  for  the  same  uses,  that 
the  state  exists. 

In  this  most  important  place,  in  these  most  impor- 
tant years,  all  our  lives  are  passed,  and  according  to  the 
condition  of  our  household  economy  are  our  whole  lives 
modified.     The  effect  of  our  ignorance  and  indifference 


1 2  Household  Economics, 

on  this  vital  system  is  to  allow  it  to  remain  in  such  a 
condition  as  to  be  largely  responsible  for  the  unhappi- 
ness  of  the  world.  This  the  social  student  can  see 
plainly  enough,  being  accustomed  to  scientific  thinking 
— to  perceiving  the  relation  between  cause  and  effect, 
and  to  that  invaluable  habit  of  the  scientific  mind  of 
accepting,  without  prejudice,  all  truth  as  important. 
But  the  popular  mind  cannot  see  as  he  sees,  and  the 
only  difl&culty  which  lies  in  the  way  of  spreading  a 
better  understanding  of  this  great  subject — this  allied 
group  of  sciences,  arts,  and  crafts — is  the  lamentable 
fact  that  the  subject  is  wrapped  in  densest  prejudice. 
Ignorance  is  a  slight  obstacle,  easil}^  removed  ;  a  condi- 
tion of  healthy  ignorance  is  a  promising  one,  but  to 
have  the  whole  case  prejudged, — already  labelled 
*'  Commonplace — we  know  all  about  it,"  and  laid  aside, 
— this  is  an  almost  insurmountable  wall. 

An  operation  like  that  whereby  the  skull  of  the  idiot 
is  cut  and  lifted  so  that  his  brain  can  grow,  will  have 
to  be  performed  in  some  ingenious  analogous  manner, 
before  the  general  mass  of  domestic  conservatism  can 
be  made  to  realize  the  nature  and  value  of  the  very 
place  it  holds. 

Personification  stands  in  the  way;  personification, 
the  mark  of  the  child  and  the  savage  ;  that  which  per- 
sonifies rock  and  river,  cloud  and  star  ;  and  which 
seeks  retaliation  on  the  chair  that  is  fallen  over.  In 
the  savage  mind,  there  is  no  power  to  generalize.  He 
can  say  *'good  stick,"  "  good  meat,"  "  good  man,"  — 
but  '*  goodness"  has  no  brain-cell  ready  to  hold  it. 
To  generalize,  however  hastily  and  crudely,  marks 
growth  in  mental  power.  Here,  in  household  economy, 
most  of  us  are  still  in  the  stage  of  untutored  and  untu- 
torable    savage.      We    can  say    ' '  my   house, "    ' '  my 


Statics  and  Dynamics,  1 3 

mother's  house,"  and  "  Mrs.  Jones's  house,"  but  THE 
HOUSE  we  have  no  brain  cell  ready  to  hold. 

In  a  field  of  thought  which  throbs  and  teems  with 
personality,  as  does  this  one,  it  is  harder  to  think  fairly 
and  clearly  than  in  some  new  and  abstract  science  like 
chemistry. 

Every  detail  mentioned  in  our  work — and  our  work 
must  deal  largely  in  detail — fills  the  mind  with  crowd- 
ing  memories,  pleasant,  funny,  exhausting,  always 
personal.  In  touching  on  matters  of  detail  in  house- 
hold economy,  every  woman  who  hears  will  feel  the 
temptation  to  receive  the  thought  with  a  strong  per- 
sonal color,  and,  perhaps,  have  her  feelings  hurt.  If, 
for  instance,  I  state  that  the  average  grade  of  home-made 
bread  in  America  is  70  per  cent. ,  or  30  per  cent,  below 
par,  some  will  feel  that  their  mother's  product  in  that 
line  is  insulted,  and  others  that  their  mother's  special 
triumphs  languish  unacknowledged.  Yet  nobody's 
mother  is  in  question.  The  question  is  the  average 
grade  of  bread  in  America.  There  is  no  more  occasion 
for  one  to  call  to  mind  their  own  grade  of  bread  than 
when  we  are  told  that  our  average  length  of  life  is  thirty- 
six  years,  to  instantly  assert  that  our  grandfather  is 
eighty-three. 

To  the  study  of  the  subject  before  us  we  must  bring 
all  the  resources  of  the  scientific  mind,  carefully  resist- 
ing any  impulse  to  personify  facts. 

There  is  room  for  feeling,  deep  and  earnest  feeling, 
for  the  condition  of  Household  Economics  furnishes 
not  only  food  for  thought  but  food  for  laughter, — and 
for  pain  too  deep  for  tears  ;  but  think  and  feel  as  we 
may,  let  it  be  general  not  personal. 

We  shall  find  in  the  definite  study  of  the  larger 
course  these  lectures  are  to  outline,   that  authorities 


14  Household  Economics, 

upon  it  are  few  ;  and  in  var3ang  degree  partial  and 
unsatisfactory,  as  regards  Household  Economics/^;' ^^. 
The  most  monumental  work — that  which  takes  up 
woman  as  a  whole  and  gives  her  natural  history  from 
the  beginning  of  time — is  Das  Weib,  hy  Dr.  Herman 
Ploss,  finished  just  before  his  death  in  1891,  and  cover- 
ing every  phase  of  her  life  from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave, — girl,  maid,  wife,  mother,  widow,  being  treated 
anatomically  and  physiologically,  as  well  as  in  all  other 
ways.  To  this  one  may  turn  as  one  turns  to  encyclo- 
paedia or  dictionary,  certain  that  all  ascertainable  facts 
are  there,  and  that  the  patient  indefatigable  German 
has  given  us  a  record  that  will  serve  as  reservoir  on 
which  to  draw  for  the  present,  and  as  data  for  a  future 
work,  in  which  the  bearing  of  this  mass  of  information 
will  be  more  clearl}^  seen,  unhampered  by  the  German 
temperament  and  its  limitations,  the  larger  thought  of 
a  larger  age  making  deductions  more  in  line  with 
absolute  truth  than  some  of  his. 

Next  in  authority,  we  have  in  Man  and  Wo^naji,  by 
Havelock  Ellis,  the  best  English  presentation  of  the 
subject,  as  the  Anglo-Saxon  scientific  mind  has  summed 
it  up,  facts  being  giveii  and  deductions  left  chiefly  to 
the  reader,  the  compact  volume  holding  many  of  the 
facts  included  in  the  larger  work  of  Ploss.  In  our  own 
country,  one  of  our  most  honored  names  as  scientist, 
Eester  F.  Ward,  in  his  work  on  Dynamic  Sociology, 
gives,  though  limited  to  a  chapter  or  two/  the  broadest 
and  most  intelligent  handling  the  subject  has  ever 
received.  No  sharper  arraignment  of  the  inadequacy 
of  women  has  ever  been  made,  nor  any  more  inspiring 
demand  upon  her  highest  faculties.     The  faith  in  what 

^Dynamic  Sociology^  by  Lester  F.  Ward,  vol.  i,  pp.  552-61 
and  655-67. 


Statics  and  Dynamics.  1 5 

woman  is  to  do  is  tremendous,  and  the  call  to  higher 
action  like  the  sound  of  a  trumpet. 

It  is  an  associate  worker  with  Mr.  Ward  in  the 
National  Museum  at  Washington,  Mr.  Mason,  who  has 
added  to  this  a  volume  on  Woman' s  Share  in  Primitive 
Culture,  in  which  the  development  of  the  peaceful  arts 
and  of  domestic  duties  is  made  plain.  Herbert  Spencer 
in  the  beginning  of  his  great  system  of  philosophy, 
divides  the  life-history  of  civilization  into  two  periods  : 
militancy  and  industrialism.  In  the  first,  as  every  early 
record  from  that  of  cave-dweller  up  shows  us,  men  and 
women  were  side  by  side  in  the  war  with  nature  and 
the  w^ar  of  man  with  man.  But  as  soon  as  both  were 
sufficiently  subdued  to  allow  time  to  think,  the  era  of 
industrialism  opened  up,  and  there  came  gradually  the 
birth  of  the  great  occupations  of  all  civilization. 

Crawling  up  and  out  from  primeval  ooze,  on  through 
the  myriad  stages  ending  in  fully  differentiated  man, 
the  new  science,  anthropology,  gives  us  every  step  of  the 
way,  and  for  long  it  is  absolutely  side  by  side,  with  no 
more  difference  in  hunting  and  killing  power  than  lies 
to-day  between  lion  and  lioness,  or  between  the  tiger 
and  his  mate.  But  as  the  brain  ceased  to  be  a  mere 
rudimentary  organ  with  a  few  faculties  in  evidence, 
and  took  on  deeper  and  deeper  convolutions,  the  in- 
stinct of  care-taking  showed  itself,  and  the  world's 
first  housekeeping  began. 

Ten  divisions  of  employment  discover  themselves, 
and  the  rise  and  progress  of  each  is  shown  in  many 
wa5'S.  History,  language,  archaeology,  folk-lore,  and 
ethnolog}^  join  hands  in  giving  us  the  sum  of  all — the 
modern  woman,  whose  voyage  is  still  in  troubled 
waters  and  who  needs  a  chart  hardly  less  than  did  the 
first  provider  for  the  wants  of  human  kind.     Standing 


1 6  Ho  use  J  I  old  Econom  ics. 

at  the  very  edge  of  time,  the  first  food-bringer  cast 
about  for  means  to  handle  the  fruits  and  seeds  which 
could  not  at  once  be  consumed,  and  planned  how  best 
to  secure  a  more  uniform  supply  of  each.  From  the 
one  need  came  her  invention  of  the  mortar  and  of  the 
upper  and  nether  grindstones,  the  precursors  of  the 
great  mills  that  do  her  work  to-day.  From  the  other 
grew  husband r}^  and  all  means  for  preserving  food. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  there  enters  upon  the  scene 
the  domestic  cat,  caught  while  young  and  reared  in  the 
house  by  the  wise  w^oman  w^ho  had  seen  on  what  fare 
the  young  wild  cats  subsisted,  and  who  knew  that  in 
taming  them  lay  the  safety  of  her  stores  of  corn  from 
termites  and  from  field-mice  and  rats.  With  the  meet- 
ing of  one  need  came  another  ;  pottery  in  all  its  forms 
being  the  necessity  that  went  with  the  preparation  of 
food,  the  ornamentation  of  this  pottery  being  the  next 
step  forward.  Weaver,  skin- dresser,  potter,  general 
beast  of  burden,  jack-at-all-trades,  artist,  linguist, 
founder  of  society, — these  are  the  divisions  she  made 
for  herself,  and  under  which  the  anthropologist  of  to-day 
considers  her.  How  she  learned  her  lessons  we  may 
all  imagine,  putting  ourselves  in  her  place  and  pictur- 
ing the  awakening  of  her  mind  before  the  growing  needs, 
as  cave  gave  place  to  hut  and  hut  to  the  dwelling  that 
in  its  gradually  refining  lines  meant  in  the  days  to  come 
such  flower  of  all  past  growth  as  Athens  gave  us  in 
the  Parthenon. 

There  are  many  of  these  domestic  industries  still 
almost  as  rude  and  primitive  as  in  the  beginning,  nor 
does  any  one  appear  to  find  this  singular  or  containing 
any  reproach  to  women,  who  certainly  have  deepest 
interest  in  discovering  the  easiest  way  for  every  neces- 
sary daily  process.     This  applies  not  only  to  industries 


Statics  and  Dynamics,  1 7 

and  utensils,  but  also  to  processes  ;  even  the  intelligent 
housekeeper  still  talks  about  ' '  luck  with  her  sponge 
cake!"  Luck!  There  is  no  such  word  in  science, 
and  to  make  sponge  cake  is  a  scientific  process  ! 

In  each  industry  which  developed  in  the  hands  of 
women  has  been  the  same  story.  Wherever  invention 
could  work,  gradually  all  that  gave  the  thing  its  indivi- 
dual character  has  passed  from  the  hands  of  women  to 
those  of  men,  and  she  has  reverted  more  and  more  to 
the  earlier  emplojmient,  the  mere  provision  for  absolute 
daily  needs,  which  the  farmer's  w^ife,  for  instance,  meets 
to-day,  often  with  little  more  outlook  on  or  knowledge 
of  larger  life  than  that  owned  by  the  first  cave-dweller. 

Buckle  in  one  of  his  summaries,^  wrote  a  conclusion 
more  than  once  repeated  :  * '  Women  are  far  more  con- 
servative than  men," — and  this  fact,  to  which  most 
close  observers  bear  witness,  has  verj^  plain  reasons 
for  its  existence, — being  due  absolutel}^  to  the  narrow, 
unvarying  range  of  the  duties  in  which  she  is  held. 

The  division  of  labor  between  the  home  and  the 
world  has  also  been  the  division  between  the  woman 
and  the  man  ;  and  in  this  there  is  deep  biological 
reason.  All  productive  industry  began  with  women, 
because  of  the  constructive  energy  of  her  nature,  the 
anabolism  of  her  sex.  To  acquire  and  preserve  is  the 
primal  distinctive  quality  of  the  germ  cell  as  distinct 
from  the  sperm  cell,  and  to  acquire  and  preserve  is 
still  the  power  of  woman.  When  vivaparous  maternity 
called  for  new  effort  on  the  part  of  the  mother  to  pro- 
vide for  her  offspring,  that  effort  was  made.  The  need 
of  the  offspring  is  the  minimum  of  the  mother's  exer- 
tion, from  the  insect  and  reptile  to  the  human  mother 
of  to-day.     Here  is  where  the  retarded  development  of 

'  Eraser's  Magazine,  April,  1858. 


1 8  Household  Economics. 

household  economy  strikes  at  the  deepest  roots  of  life. 
Our  mothers,  over-burdened  and  perplexed,  spend  in 
defective  methods  of  labor  the  strength  required  for 
their  primal  function,  and,  because  of  this,  the  race,  in 
the  most  literal  sense,  is  "  nipped  in  the  bud." 

That  woman  as  a  sex  should  hold  the  office  of  feeder 
and  clother  and  keeper  of  life  is  right,  wholly  right ; 
but  unless  the  processes  followed  are  abreast  of  the  age 
the  end  is  not  fully  attained. 

The  industries  which  began  in  her  strong,  wise 
mother-hands  have  been  taken  from  her  by  her  sons 
and  carried  out  to  fuller  differentiation  than  was  possi- 
ble in  the  home  circle.  This  was  natural,  but  it  is  to 
be  noted  that  the  destructive  energy  of  the  male  was 
only  turned  to  construction  after  the  fixed  home  and 
its  demands  required  of  him  a  share  in  its  activities. 
Slowly  the  slayer  ceased  to  destroy  and  learned  to 
create, — slowly  and  partially  and  always  from  her. 

The  ascent  of  man,  viewed  economically,  is  a  definite 
progression — an  endless  procession— from  the  home  up 
and  out  into  the  broader  and  more  directly  independe- 
dent  occupations  of  the  world. 

The  home  is  the  birthplace  of  every  human  thing. 
Out  of  it  has  come  all  that  makes  us  human  in  the 
broader  sense  of  the  word.  And  though  it  cannot  and 
should  not  expect  to  retain  within  its  walls  any  indus- 
try which  calls  for  wider  coordinate  action  with  re- 
search and  experiment,  y&t  the  industries  necessarily 
contained  therein  must  be  brought  to  our  present  level 
of  economic  advance. 

We  cannot  afford  to  have  the  cradle  of  life  in  an 
inferior  or  defective  condition  ;  else  is  the  life  that 
comes  out  of  it  malformed  and  defective  also. 

It  is  to  point  out  something  of  the  length  and  breadth 


Statics  and  Dynamics.  1 9 

and  depth  of  these  considerations, — to  trace  the  origin, 
evolution,  present  relation,  and  apparent  tendency  of 
this  intensely  interesting,  valuable,  and  yet  almost 
unknown  subject  of  Household  Economics,  that  these 
limited  and  condensed  lectures  are  offered. 

RE^FKRENCKS. 

The  Place  of  Woman  in  Primiiive  Culture^  by  O.  T.  Mason. 

Man  and  Woman,  by  Havelock  Ellis. 

Primitive  Culture^  by  Edward  Tylor. 

Das  Weid,  by  Dr.  Herman  Ploss. 

Dynamic  Sociology,  by  Lester  F.  Ward,  pp.  552-61  and  656-67. 

The  EvoUition  of  Marriage,  by  Charles  Letourneau. 

The  Evolution  of  Sex.,  by  Geddes  and  Thompson. 

Prehistoric  Man,  by  Daniel  Wilson. 

Origin  of  Civilization,  by  Sir  John  Lubbock. 

Buckle's  History  of  Civilization. 

The  Ascent  of  Man,  by  Henry  Drummond. 

The  House  Beautiful,  by  William  C.  Gannett. 

The  Story  of  My  House,  by  G.  H.  Ellwanger. 

The  City  Residence,  byW.  B.  Tuthill. 

Das  Deutsche  Zi'inmer  der  Gothik  and  Renaissaens  Des  Barock. 

— Rococo  und  Zopfstits — by  Dr.  Georg  Hirth,  Miinchen  and 

Leipzig. 
Convenient  Houses,  with  Fifty  Plans  for  the  Housekeeper,  by 

Louis  H.  Gibson. 
Homes  in  City  and  Country,  by  Russell  Sturgis,  et  al. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  HOUSE. 

What  is  a  House  ?— Relation  of  House  to  Human  Life— Value 
of  Human  Production  in  Proportion  to  Durability  and  Usa- 
bility— Organic  Structure  of  the  House  with  its  Evolution — 
The  Kitchen  and  Derivatives — Bedroom  and  Derivatives — 
Parlor  and  Derivatives— Relation  of  Differentiation  and 
Specialization  in  Building  to  the  Same  Processes  in  Social 
Evolution— Hut  to  Hotel  ;  Tent  to  Tenement— The  Typical 
Farm-House— Industries  Represented — The  Rudimentary 
Shop — Effect  of  Habitat — Soil,  Location,  Foundation,  Ele- 
vation— Topographical  Maps — From  Isolation  to  Aggrega- 
tion—The City  Beautiful. 

IN  Studying  the  house  as  an  integral  part  of  human 
life — the  housing  of  humanity  as  a  branch  of  social 
economics — we  must  approach  the  subject  with  a 
full   recognition  of  what   this  external   manufactured 
world  means  to  humanity. 

What  is  a  house  ?  What  relation  does  it  bear  to  a 
human  being?  Is  there  any  connection  between  you 
and  your  house  in  size,  color,  form,  arrangement,  loca- 
tion, decoration,  furnishing?  Would  it  make  any 
difference  to  you  if  yoti  lived  in  a  house  which  was 
painted  pitch  black  inside  and  out,  or  unbroken  white, 
or  fire  red  ?  Would  you  mind  if  it  was  an  acre  in  ex- 
tent and  seven  feet  high,  or  ninety-eight  feet  high  and 
seven  feet  square  ?    Would  you  mind  if  it  was  all  one 


The  HoTCse.  2 1 

room  sixty  by  sixt}^  or  cut  up  into  many  apartments 
of  nine  by  nine  ?  Would  you  mind  if  it  was  as  long  as 
a  rope-walk,  or  triangular  or  an  ellipsoid  ? 

If  it  is  plain  that  these  things  do  make  a  difference, 
It  is  plain  that  there  is  as  direct  a  connection  between 
the  house  and  the  man,  as  between  the  shell  and  the 
shell-fish. 

Now,  how  if  there  were  no  house  at  all  ? 

Imagine  for  a  moment  this  world  of  people  as  they 
are  now,  with  all  their  delicate  machines  and  processes, 
all  their  garments  and  ornaments  and  treasures  of  art, 
and  takeoff  from  them  every  roof  and  wall, — take  the 
houses  out  of  the  world  ! 

Humanity  must  needs  revert  to  that  tent  and  cave 
period  when  the  arts  and  industries  were  of  the  order 
which  could  stand  weather, — a  far  simpler  form  of 
social  organism. 

As  well  unfeather  the  birds,  unshell  the  turtle,  un- 
skin  the  body,  as  to  unhouse  mankind.  The  house  is 
the  essential  skin,  bark,  shell,  outer  covering  of  the 
human  organism.  Here  we  touch  on  an  enormous 
truth,  long  lost  sight  of  in  the  anti-natural  spirit  of 
the  dark  ages  and  still  hidden  from  us  by  the  long 
habit  of  our  minds  in  accepting  the  arbitrary  distinc- 
tions of  these  earlier  da3^s. 

Remember  always  how  science  studies  connection, 
relation,  shows  how  things  go  together, — while  the  un- 
taught mind  sees  only  detached  facts.  To  the  average 
mind  to-day,  the  home  is  only  Mrs,  Jones's  house  or 
my  house  ;  as  a  part  of  human  life  it  is  unknown. 
This  personifying  of  fact  is  a  true  savage  instinct, — 
grown  out  of  as  the  mind  learns  to  generalize. 

The  fact  is  that  the  manufactured  world  is  as  much 
a  part   of   human  life  as   feathers   are   of   bird   life. 


22  Household  Economics. 

Imagine  again  for  a  moment,  not  only  the  houses 
gone,  but  also  all  things  made  by  man  gone, — books, 
clothes,  tools,  utensils,  vessels,  vehicles, — all  that  man's 
brain  and  hand  have  transformed  from  raw  materials 
into  parts  of  his  life.  Nothing  on  earth  but  the  sub- 
human creation,  and  the  crowding,  helpless  human 
beings,  robbed  now  not  only  of  their  skins  but  of  their 
very  structure, — their  organism  itself !  We  should  be 
reduced  to  the  mere  protoplasm  of  humanity,  living 
constituents — the  stuff  of  which  humanity  is  made, — 
but  not  humanity  any  more  than  bricks  are  a  house  or 
timbers  a  ship. 

See  how,  to  assume  human  relation — and  humanity, 
we  know,  is  not  a  mere  aggregation  of  men  but  a  rela- 
tion of  men — these  numerous  cells  in  the  disorganized 
organism  would  have  instantly  to  get  to  themselves  the 
clothes  without  which  their  personal  existence  is  not  ; 
the  tools  without  which  their  organic  existence  is  not  ; 
the  utensils,  vessels,  vehicles,  and  means  of  communi- 
cation, without  which  their  structural  existence  is  not, 
— and  so  become  humanity  again. 

The  manufactured  world  is  as  much  a  part  of  human 
life  as  scales  are  a  part  of  the  fish.  The  growth  of 
humanity  has  evolved  material  structure  and  tools, 
precisely  as  the  growth  of  any  organism  evolves  its 
structure  and  tools.  But  mark  here  the  immense  su- 
periority of  our  degree  of  life.  In  the  lower  orders 
each  individual  body  must  make  its  own  fur,  horns, 
claws, — whatever  it  needs,  made  at  its  own  individual 
expense,  permanent  and  undetachable,  having  to  be 
duplicated  by  every  other  of  the  same  species,  and 
serving  as  a  modifier  and  limit  of  growth.  The  tusks 
of  the  elephant  modify  his  mouth,  head,  neck,  body, 
legs,  motions.     They  modify  the  elephant.     Precisely 


The  House.  23 

so  would  the  tools  of  a  man  modify  him, — as  does  the 
blacksmith's  hammer  the  blacksmith's  arm, — if  he  had 
but  one  tool  and  used  it  all  the  time.  But  our  racial 
advantage  here  is  immeasurable.  Our  tools  and  our 
houses, — the  further  developments  of  material  struc- 
ture required  for  human  life — are  durable,  detachable, 
exchangeable.  Our  bodies,  meanv^'hile,  not  having  to 
be  modified  too  exclusively  by  any  one  tool,  retain  their 
ever  increasing  potentiality  ;  and  so  their  beauty  and 
their  power. 

So  in  our  houses ;  while  the  house  to  the  human 
creature  is  as  essential  as  the  carapace  to  the  turtle,  it 
does  not  have  to  grow  on  him  and  he  does  not  have  to 
carry  it  around  on  his  back.  We,  the  living  constitu- 
ents of  humanity,  can  make  vast  and  lasting  homes, 
temples,  cathedrals,  palaces,  in  which  human  life  can 
ebb  and  flow  and  reach  toward  higher  things.  Human 
production  is  valuable  in  proportion  to  its  durability 
and  usability  ;  a  book,  a  jewel,  a  statue,  a  temple,  a 
bridge,  or  a  ship  are  far  more  valuable  than  are  products 
of  a  more  perishable  nature,  or  whose  usefulness  is 
restricted  to  a  single  individual.  One  man  can  use  a 
dozen  tools,  and  use  them  well.  He  can,  by  virtue  of 
his  humanness,  cross  water,  dig  in  the  ground,  hunt, 
fight,  build,  decorate.  It  is  what  it  would  be  to  an 
animal  to  be  able  to  assume  at  will  the  power  of  a 
dozen  other  animals.  It  multiplies  the  chances  of  liv- 
ing manifold  ;  it  makes  man  "  better  than  the  lower 
animals  by  as  many  as  there  are  of  him." 

With  this  in  mind,  think  then  of  the  importance  of 
the  home,  the  outer  body  of  the  human  soul !  Our 
bodies  of  flesh  are  but  Hmited  vehicles  for  the  expres- 
sion of  the  personal  soul.  Man  was  not  content  with 
the  body  of  flesh.     Human  development  requires  com- 


24  Household  Economics, 

mensurate  development  in  manufactured  things.  We 
need  to  make  quite  clear  in  our  minds  the  limitation  I 
imply  of  the  personal  soul  and  the  intimate  connection 
of  the  man-made  world  with  civilization. 

The  human  being  of  to-day  has  functional  ability 
and  desire  for  activities  which  involve  numbers  of 
other  human  beings,  and  which  require,  as  a  vehicle 
for  exertion,  numbers  of  human  things. 

Humanity  consists  of  numbers  of  human  beings  in 
organic  relation.  Organic  relation  requires  functional 
interdependence  and  structural  connection  and  com- 
munication. 

These  are  clearly  shown  in  the  complex  activities  of 
civilization,  so  absolutely  interdependent, — and  in  the 
marvellous  methods  of  interaction  evolved  by  the 
inventive  brain  and  executive  hand  of  man.  With- 
out these  complex  activities  we  should  not  have  the 
human  brain  ;  without  the  manufactured  conven- 
iences we  should  not  have  the  complex  activities. 
The  human  brain  creates,  maintains,  and  is  dependent 
on  these  things  which  are  at  once  its  product  and  its 
producer. 

Into  the  houses  which  we  make  are  born  our  chil- 
dren, and  the  houses  have  a  hand  in  making  them. 
Where  we  live  and  how  we  live  has  its  unavoidable 
effect  on  what  we  do  and  how  we  do  it.  The  highest 
and  most  enlightened  human  soul  would  naturally 
make  for  itself  noble  and  beautiful  houses,  rightly 
situated,  built,  arranged,  furnished,  and  adorned. 
So,  in  turn,  would  such  houses  tend  to  produce  and 
develop  high  and  enlightened  human  souls.  It  may 
be  objected  that  the  practical  limitations  of  life  prevent 
any  possibility  of  having  such  houses,  and  that  it 
merely   fills   our   souls  with   unnecessary   distress  to 


The  House,  25 

hear  of  such  unattainable  ideals.  To  which  I  reply- 
that  we  are  to  study  Household  Economics — that  which 
is  an  abstract  truth,  with  its  derivation  and  direction 
and  rate  of  progress  ;  and  that  existing  errors  in  liv- 
ing do  not  affect  the  truth  of  Household  Economics, 
any  more  than  cripples  and  invalids  affect  the  truth  of 
physiology  and  hygiene. 

It  is  plain,  then,  that  the  house  must  grow  as  man 
does,  from  hut  to  palace ;  from  the  solitary,  unorgan- 
ized life  to  the  higher  form.  As  the  individual  devel- 
ops, more  and  more  space,  more  and  more  personal 
belongings  becomes  the  necessity.  Talk  as  you  will 
about  the  tub  being  sulBScient  for  Diogenes,  or  the 
cell  for  the  thinker,  we  all  know  better.  Roger  Bacon 
in  a  cell  might  think  out  gunpowder,  a  thing  of 
doubtful  beneficence,  although  undoubtedly  one  engine 
of  progress, — but  imagine  Pasteur  or  Edison  or  Tesla 
held  to  the  same  limits  !  No,  the  modern  scientist 
must  have  not  only  a  laboratory  but  a  series  of  labora- 
tories— rooms  of  all  sorts  for  all  sorts  of  mysterious 
purposes,  and  more  and  more  space  for  the  human 
worker  is  the  cr}^  from  every  side.  Here  and  there, 
for  the  mystic  and  ascetic,  cells  may  suffice  ;  but  even 
they  live  that  life  to-day  only  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that 
the  larger  life  of  growing  humanity  has  made  such 
variation  less  damaging  to  the  general  trend  forward. 

Imagine  a  dozen  great  men — a  Gladstone,  a  Ruskin, 
a  Watts,  an  Emerson,  a  Huxley,  a  Spencer — suddenly 
set  down  each  in  his  small  round  hut,  with  no  more 
appliances  of  civihzation  than  had  the  first  struggling 
hut-dwellers.  One  of  two  things  must  happen  :  in  the 
profound  barrenness  and  nakedness  of  such  existence 
the  soul  would  shrink,  retrograde,  and  so  gradually 
lose  that  toward  which  the  generations  have  worked, 


26  Household  Economics, 

or  instant  organization  would  make  for  the  abolition 
of  these  limitations  and  the  substitution  of  something 
as  much  better  as  could  be  wrested  from  circumstance. 
The  hut  for  any  civilized  humanity  has  become  forever 
impossible.  Even  the  lowest  tenement  house,  with  its 
swarming  humanity  to  whom  we  supply  the  worst  and 
lowest  grades  of  civilized  appliances,  is,  so  far  as  it  has 
to  go,  a  higher  type  of  dwelling  than  the  hut,  or  even 
the  cottage  of  poetry  and  prose.  At  first,  we  may 
be  inclined  to  call  the  cottage  a  higher  type  ;  but  is  it 
not  rather  the  perfection  of  a  lower  finished  one  ? — 
like  the  sea-anemones,  for  instance — a  lovely  mass  of 
color  swaying  in  the  ebbing  or  the  flowing  tides,  but 
fast  to  the  rock  and  incapable  of  higher  forms — a  mere 
dab  of  undifferentiated  protoplasm.  The  tenement, 
foul  as  it  may  be,  at  its  worst  still  holds  the  seed  of 
higher  growth,  and  in  time  is  to  evidence  the  highest 
skill  of  man  in  all  that  makes  for  the  well-being  of  the 
human  creature.  As  it  stands  to  day,  it  is  in  great 
degree  the  expression  of  the  type  of  soul  within  its 
walls,  and  by  reflex  action  it  reproduces  the  same  type 
incessantly. 

The  house  makes  or  mars  its  tenant  far  beyond  what 
we  have  dreamed,  and  by  long  living  in  its  limits  we 
conform  to  its  structure  and  actual  automatic  action 
sets  in.  Witness  the  housekeeper  transplanted  after 
years  of  one  dwelling  into  the  unfamiliar  spaces  of 
another, — and  the  painful  jounces  and  jogs,  as  she 
walks  off  of  steps  or  steps  high  on  plane  surfaces, — 
her  whole  organization  long  declining  to  readjust 
itself  to  new  conditions.  The  old  house  still  holds 
her  and,  unlike  our  chambered  nautilus,  which  hav- 
ing "  built  up  the  idle  door"  through  which  it  passed 
to  the   new  abode  "knows   the   old  no  more,"    our 


The  House.  27 

higher  organized  human  carries  the  imprint  of  the 
old  in  every  nerve,  and  fumbles  unconsciously  for  the 
vanished  spaces  and  places. 

Turn  now  again  to  our  hut,  the  seed  of  a  house  to 
be, — about  which,  as  his  needs  increased,  the  owner 
gathered  other  huts,  each  for  its  distinctive  office. 
Take  the  English  manor-house  of  the  last  century,  or 
the  ideal  American  farm-house  of  our  Colonial  period, 
with  its  crowding  offices,  each  a  rudimentary  shop,  and 
every  industry, — cooking,  weaving,  dyeing,  brewing, 
shoe-making,  tailoring,  and  the  rest  well  in  the  fore- 
ground ;  compare  it  with  the  modern  city  home  in 
which  only  the  first  of  all  these  industries  has  found 
part.  Concealment  of  all  these  necessary  functions  is 
now  a  law,  and  the  beautiful  house, — so  far  as  struc- 
ture can  bring  it  about, — hides  all  outward  traces  of 
these  lower  activities,  perfecting  them  in  every  possible 
way,  but  forbidding  overflow  and  intrusion  bej^ond 
their  own  fixed  limits. 

Come  now  then,  to  the  home  as  it  stands  to-day,  and 
its  basic  necessities,  and  we  have  at  once  three  divisions 
to  treat  :     The  kitchen    \ 

The  bedroom  v  and  their  derivatives. 
The  parlor       J 

In  the  nature  of  things,  the  kitchen  comes  first, — a 
stomach  for  the  organization  to  be  fed.  It  was  as  stom- 
ach that  the  cell  began,  and  inlo  whatever  organism 
it  ma}^  develop  this  primal  need  remains  unchanged, 
simply  taking  on  more  and  more  complexity  and 
requiring  a  type  of  service  unknown  and  undreamed 
of  by  a  simpler  and  more  primitive  people. 

The  structural  development  of  the  house  follows 
precisely  the  similar  evolution  of  humanity, — just  as 
in  any  other  body.     Function  comes  before  organ,  we 


28  Household  Economics. 

know  ;  hearing  made  the  ear,  and  so  eating  made  the 
kitchen.  The  kitchen  is  as  much  a  part  of  human 
nutrition  as  mouth  and  teeth  are,  and  the  expansion 
and  differentiation  of  the  kitchen  mirror  absolutely  our 
nutritive  wants  and  habits. 

The  bedroom  and  all  its  derivatives  follow  the  en- 
larging personality  of  the  individual.  The  parlor,  and 
largely  the  dining  hall,  speak  not  only  of  personality 
but  more  of  common  needs, — a  meeting-place.  Our 
best  and  highest  go  always  to  the  place  where  most 
people  are. 

The  kitchen  and  its  derivatives,  then,  will  include 
all  such  places  as  those  for  storage  of  food,  for  all  pur- 
poses of  cleansing,  and  for  every  office  connected  with 
the  preparation  of  food.  In  close  connection  with  it 
must  be  the  dining-room  with  its  perfectly  appointed 
receptacles  for  china,  glass,  silver,  table  linen,  and 
whatever  else  is  needed  in  the  finest  serving  of  food. 
With  these  we  include  a  butler's  pantry  with  its  hot- 
and  cold-water  pipes  and  sink  for  the  washing  of  those 
dishes  which  are  likely  to  fare  better  here  than  if  trans- 
ported three  times  a  day  to  the  kitchen. 

For  the  bedroom  must  be  included,  bath-room, 
dressing-room  closets  and  all  that  the  personal  and 
most  private  side  of  life  demands  and  should  have. 
Personal  rights  have  thus  far  had  small  space  in  the 
architectural  scheme  of  the  home.  A  separate  room 
is  the  right  of  every  human  being  ;  a  place  where  one 
can  lock  the  door,  be  safe  from  intrusion,  and  in  silence 
and  freedom  gather  strength  for  the  next  thing  to  be 
done.  For  children  this  is  quite  as  necessary  as  for 
their  elders.  Half  of  the  friction  and  much  of  the  ill- 
health  of  humanity  come  from  lack  of  knowledge  of 
this  law,  and  sensitive  children  for  whom  these  rights 


The  House,  29 

are  ignored  grow  into  invalidism  or  chronic  irritability 
of  mind  and  bod}-.  There  are  some  details  as  to  this, 
out  of  place  here,  but  coming  later  on  in  our  discussion 
of  furnishing. 

The  parlor  with  its  derivatives  includes,  in  the 
highest  type  of  house,  the  larger  parlor  or  drawing- 
room  for  the  reception  of  companies  of  people,  the 
reception  room,  the  library,  the  music  room,  the  pict- 
ure-galler>', — all  that  makes  up  the  widest  beauty  of 
living.  The  house  is  a  growth  ;  as  the  soul  grows  and 
its  needs  increase,  it  reaches  out  in  all  directions  for 
that  finer  food  on  which  the  higher  living  must  grow, 
and  the  house  must,  in  the  nature  of  things,  shape 
itself  to  meet  these  needs.  If  it  does  not,  there  is 
cramping  and  dwarfing,  and  the  feet  that  should  go 
forward  are  crippled  by  a  self-made  system,  no  less 
certain  in  its  effects  than  that  which  makes  crippling  a 
mark  of  high  birth  for  the  Chinese  woman. 

The  house  is  not  only  the  result  of  character,  but  it 
also  determines  the  character.  The  effect  of  habitat  is 
one  great  factor  in  the  making  of  any  organism.  The 
physical  geography  of  a  place  determines  its  history, 
and  the  story  of  a  race  is  governed  by  the  river  on 
whose  banks  it  settled,  or  the  mountains  w^hich  shut 
them  in,  and  in  shutting  out  other  tribes  and  peoples 
gave  them  time  and  freedom  to  develop  their  own 
peculiar  characteristics.  There  is  much  more  than 
mere  coincidence  in  the  castle  on  the  hill  and  the  cot  in 
the  valley.  The  castle,  in  the  beginning,  seeks  the 
height  that  the  robber  baron  within  may  swoop  down  on 
the  prey  below,  or  in  turn  give  refuge  to  his  own  depend- 
ants driven  out  by  a  like-minded  marauder  from  another 
fortress  of  the  same  order.  Under  the  castle  roof  is  bom 
the  soldier,  and  sometimes  the  great  administrator  ;  un- 


30  Household  Economics, 

der  the  cottage  roof  the  follower  of  all  peaceful  arts,  and 
though  these  facts  may  be  interchangeable,  our  thought 
of  each  remains  the  same. 

It  is  so  with  all  literature.  The  masters  count  the 
house  the  expression  of  the  human  soul  that  has  planned 
it,  and  often  as  we  read  their  picturing  of  the  house, 
we  see  the  soul  with  a  clearness  no  other  words  could 
give.  Take  Maviana  in  the  Moated  Gratige.  How 
should  she  not  be  weary,  poor  soul ! 

♦'  With  blackest  moss  the  flowerpots 

Were  thickly  crusted  one  and  all ; 
The  rusted  nails  fell  from  the  knots 

That  held  the  peach  to  the  garden  wall. 
The  broken  sheds  look'd  sad  and  strange  : 

Uplifted  was  the  clinking  latch  ; 
Weeded  and  worn  the  ancient  thatch 

Upon  the  lonely  moated  grange." 

In  Vo€s  House  of  Usher,  the  horror  of  it  infiltrates  itself 
in  every  inch  of  the  fated  and  fatal  structure  ;  and  the 
House  of  the  Seven  Gables  seems  more  alive  than  the 
gaunt  form  of  its  latest  owner,  the  last  of  the  Pyncheons, 
poor  old  Hepzibah,  in  her  unequal  warfare  with  an 
objecting  world.  We  could  spend  hours  in  recalling 
the  settings  of  many  a  tragedy  or  comedy,  the  great 
descriptions  which  have  made  certain  houses  the  syno- 
nyms of  their  owners'  lives  ;  but  what  has  been  said 
must  suffice  as  hint  of  work  you  can  all  do  for  your- 
selves and  which  is  part  of  the  fascinating  literature  of 
our  subject.  The  House  in  Poetry  and  in  Prose  might 
easily  fill  a  volume,  and  once  collected  between  covers, 
we  should  have  abundant  evidence  of  the  unity  of  house 
and  soul  and  the  absolute  dependence  of  one  upon  the 
other. 

We  come  now  to  the  practical  side  :  the  points  first 


The  House,  31 

to  be  considered  in  the  selection  of  building  site,  and 
here  we  meet  the  sharpest  of  limitations,  since  only  mer- 
est hint  can  be  given  now  of  all  that  would  come  under 
this  head  in  any  full  course  of  instruction.  Soil,  loca- 
tion, foundation,  elevation,  are  the  first  four  consider- 
ations in  building  and  one  must  often  determine  the 
other.  In  the  matter  of  soil,  clay  bottom  means  the 
impossibility  almost  of  perfect  drainage  ;  while  a 
gravelly  soil  at  once  secures  it.  If  it  were  possible  to 
plan  beforehand  in  the  building  of  a  town,  experts 
could  be  called  in  to  determine  the  most  healthy  loca- 
tions for  the  homes,  leaving  the  less  desirable  portions 
for  the  business  houses,  which  are  occupied  only  the 
smaller  part  of  the  twenty-four  hours  every  day.  A 
good  topographical  map  of  town  and  city  should  be 
not  only  in  every  real-estate  office,  but  available  to 
every  prospective  builder  and  buyer.  New  York  has 
such  a  map  made  by  a  famous  engineer.  General  Egbert 
Viele,  and  on  it  every  spring  and  water-course,  swamp, 
clay-bed,  and  bit  of  made  land  are  plain  to  see  ;  but 
few  other  cities  have  anything  so  valuable  and  sugges- 
tive. 

Until  the  time  comes  when  municipal  government 
means  the  employment  of  experts  for  all  such  needs, 
we  must,  as  far  as  possible,  study  for  ourselves  the  na- 
ture of  the  soil  and  plant  our  house  on  a  hill,  it  may  be, 
or  at  any  rate,  on  a  rise  of  ground  from  which  all  sew- 
age and  waste  water  can  easily  drain  away.  If  it  must 
be  on  the  low  lands,  then  seek  a  sandy  or  gravelly  soil. 
Even  with  sand  and  loam  on  the  surface,  underlying 
clay-beds  often  exist,  and  standing  water  will  mean 
clammy  moisture  on  walls  and  chill  in  every  closed 
room.  Malaria  follows  naturally,  being  the  child  of 
all  shut-in  and  poisonous  conditions.     The  dwellers  on 


32  Ho7isehold  Economics. 

low  and  undrained  lands  are  the  pill  and  patent-medi- 
cine takers, — and  there  is  no  other  civilized  country 
that  consumes  so  many  tons  of  pills,  so  many  thousands 
of  gallons  of  tonics  and  bitters  as  does  our  own.  Pure 
air,  pure  water,  plenty  of  sun, — these  are  the  natural 
tonics,  and  our  house  must  stand  where  it  can  have  a 
full  share  of  all. 

"The  well  are  made  sick,  and  the  sick  are  made 
worse  for  the  simple  lack  of  God's  pure  air  and  w^ater," 
a  famous  physician,  Dr.  George  Derby,  wrote  long 
before  many  people  had  thought  much  about  it,  and 
the  reports  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Health  are 
full  of  facts  that  confirm  his  word.  The  corps  of 
physicians  who  began  the  w^ork  were  not  only  trained 
scientific  men,  but  enthusiasts  as  w^ell.  The  reading 
of  one  of  these  reports  would  perhaps  go  further  towards 
creating  the  new  sense  of  what  location  really  means 
than  could  any  general  statement.  Location,  wdth  all 
that  it  includes,  is  the  foundation  of  public  and  private 
health.  In  tweuty-tw^o  years  of  almost  continuous 
war,  England  lost  79,700  lives  ;  in  one  year  of  cholera 
she  lost  144,860  lives,  or  nearly  double  the  number  lost 
in  twenty-two  years  of  war, — these  deaths  being  the 
direct  result  of  bad  drainage  and  foul  sanitary  condi- 
tions. Many  references  that  could  be  given  here  will 
come  more  properly  under  the  head  of  plumbing  and 
drainage,  which  we  are  to  consider  in  another  place. 

If  it  can  be  helped,  and  it  must  be  helped  if  possible, 
do  not  build  in  the  midst  of  sordid  or  ugly  surroundings. 
Look  out  upon  beauty,  if  it  can  be  found.  If  it  cannot, 
seek  a  spot  as  far  as  possible  from  the  sight  of  ugliness, 
since  we  know  already  the  effect  of  habitat  on  human 
kind.  Above  all,  place  the  house  so  that  full  sunshine 
may  be  in  each  room  during  some  part  of  the  day. 


The  House.  33 

Allow  no  tree  to  stand  so  near  that  it  shuts  out  either 
air  or  sunlight.  They  can  be  near  enough  for  beauty 
and  for  shade,  but  not  where  they  constantly  shed 
moisture  and  make  twilight  in  our  rooms  at  mid-day. 
Disease  flies  before  full  sunshine.  For  the  house  shut 
in  by  trees,  consumption  and  scrofula  are  the  natural 
products,  and  you  will  find  in  the  reports  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Board  of  Health,  already  referred  to,  a  series 
of  confirmations  of  this  statement. 

Next  comes  foundation,  a  matter  of  indifference 
with  many  builders,  whose  only  thought  is  the  cheapest 
thing  on  which  walls  may  rest.  With  bad  mortar  and 
bad  laying  of  the  stones  the  whole  thing  presently  settles 
and  gives  to  the  owner  or  renter  uneven  floors,  walls 
out  of  plumb  and  all  the  weariness  of  submission  to  an 
unnecessary  evil.  The  best  foundations  are  made  by 
digging  trenches  and  laying  in  them  large,  flat  stones, 
far  wider  than  the  walls  they  are  to  support,  covering 
these  with  the  rough  stone  or  rubble,  as  evenly  as 
possible,  each  course  being  laid  in  common  cement.  A 
coat  of  cement  should  be  given  to  the  outside  and 
mortar  and  whitewash  can  finish  the  interior.  Bricks 
are  often  used  as  foundation  for  frame  houses,  as  they 
give  a  better  finish  to  the  cellar  wall,  but  they  also 
have  the  primary  layer  of  flat  stone  levelled  with 
cement.  They  can  also  be  laid  on  asphalt.  Firmness 
and  dryness  are  the  prime  needs,  and  whether  the 
structure  be  palace  or  cottage,  these  never  alter. 

The  plan  of  the  house  includes  beforehand  not  only 
all  that  has  been  said  as  to  location  and  its  bearings, 
but  also  the  setthng  of  the  cost  and  an  intelligent  idea 
of  the  special  family  needs.  Here  a  woman's  judgment 
is  absolutely  essential.  It  is  the  woman  who  lives 
chiefly  in  the  house  and  who,  if  common  sense  were 


34  Household  Economics. 

brought  to  bear,  would  soon  put  an  end  to  the  type  of 
thing  the  average  builder  offers  her.  Why  should  we 
perpetually  go  up  and  down  w^hen  going  sideways  is 
so  much  easier?  Why  should  we  accept  stupidly 
planned  and  inadequate  closets  or  no  closets  at  all,  and 
kitchens  in  which  everything  is  calculated  to  bring  the 
greatest  unhappiness  to  the  greatest  number?  The 
utmost  convenience  in  every  inch  of  working  space 
should  be  the  law.  The  difference  between  a  pantry- 
opening  close  to  the  sink  and  one  at  the  opposite  end 
of  the  room  may  seem  a  small  matter  ;  but  when  it 
comes  to  walking  across  the  room  with  every  dish  that 
is  washed,  the  steps  soon  count  as  miles. 

The  successful  workman,  whose  art  lies  on  the  rapid 
combination  of  materials,  arranges  materials  and  tools 
so  as  to  be  able  to  use  them  with  the  fewest  possible 
movements, — and  the  difference  between  a  skilled  and 
an  unskilled  workman  is  not  so  much  the  rate  of  speed 
in  motion  as  in  the  ability  to  make  each  motion  tell. 
So  long  as  we  are  compelled  to  many  industries  which 
hardly  belong  to  the  home,  so  long  we  must  seek  in 
all  possible  ways  to  give  the  maximum  of  comfort  and 
convenience  and  the  minimum  of  labor.  To  this  end, 
we  need  to  study  houses  as  they  are ;  note  their  dis- 
crepancies and  defects  and  plan  for  better  things. 
There  are  admirable  collections  of  plans  now  offered, 
and  as  an  introduction  to  their  study  I  know  of  noth- 
ing better  than  a  little  book  by  a  well  known  architect, 
E.  Gardner,  of  Springfield,  Mass., — The  House  That 
Jill  Built,  in  which  Jack,  realizing  his  unfitness  for 
the  office,  retires  into  the  background,  emitting  now 
and  then  a  modest  suggestion  as  to  his  personal  desires, 
but  content  to  leave  the  main  features  in  the  hands  to 
which  they  naturally  belong. 


The  House.  35 

The  drawing  of  plans  is  a  delightful  amusement,  as 
well  as  an  education,  since  even  one,  if  carefully  stud- 
ied in  all  its  bearings,  opens  up  new  fields  of  thought 
and  shows  better  than  any  mere  words  can  our  present 
limitations  and  the  better  things  toward  which  we 
move.  In  the  formal  course  of  instruction  to  which 
this  is  merest  hint  of  introduction,  plan  drawing  is 
obligatory  and  each  student  makes  several,  beginning 
with  the  crudest  and  cheapest  form  of  house, — such  a 
one  as  might  be  set  up  on  the  prairie  while  pre-emp- 
ting a  quarter- section  of  land,  supposing  there  were 
any  left  to  pre-empt,  and  ending  with  the  best  con- 
ception of  the  beautiful,  spacious,  well  ordered  home. 
There  will  be  strange  lapses  and  gaps  in  these  early 
efforts,  but  no  stranger  than  that  of  a  great  man  before 
us,  since  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  made  his  own  plan 
for  Monticello,  left  out  the  stairs  altogether,  and  had 
to  tuck  them  in  at  the  last  as  best  he  could. 

It  is  worth  while  for  ever}^  one  of  us, — no  matter  how 
far  off  a  house  may  seem — to  sit  down  with  pencil  and 
paper  and  think  out  on  the  paper  the  thing  that  means 
to  us  a  house.  Mathematical  correctness  has  little  to 
do  with  this  first  feeling  out.  It  is  a  memorandum 
merely  ;  the  catch  words,  as  it  were,  of  the  full 
thought ;  but  having  once  done  it  an  interest  in  houses 
per  se  will  be  acquired,  such  as  no  other  method  can 
give,  and  the  first  and  most  difiicult  step  will  have 
been  taken  towards  that  new  conception  of  needs 
Vv^hich  is  by  and  by  to  make  over  all  our  ugliness  and 
crudity  into  the  beaut}^  which  is  the  right  and  reason 
and  necessity  in  all  building. 

There  is  one  vital  error  current  among  us  on  the 
subject  of  housing  humanity  ;  it  is  to  the  effect  that 
city  building,  city  life  in  general,  is  essentially  bad. 


36  Household  Ecoiiomics. 

We  say  with  the  pleasaut  finality  of  such  sayings  : 
**  God  made  the  country  and  man  made  the  town." 
*  *  Back  to  the  farm  ! ' '  cries  the  economist,  the  moral- 
ist, and  the  philanthropist,  and  the  current  philosophy 
deplores  the  tendency  of  the  population  to  ' '  flock  to 
the  cities." 

Now,  in  truth,  God  made  the  town  in  a  far  more 
vital  sense  than  he  made  the  country.  The  country  is 
simply  the  raw  material,  the  undeveloped  substance  of 
towns.  We  might  as  appropriately  say,  "  God  made 
the  paint  and  man  made  the  picture, "  or  * '  God  made 
the  piano  and  man  made  the  music."  The  city,  as  an 
expression  of  man's  higher  life,  is  in  closer  relation  to 
God  than  are  earth  and  trees.  As  to  the  specific  evils 
of  city  life, — some  of  them,  as  dirt,  disease,  and  im- 
moralit)^  exist  in  equal  proportion  to  the  population  in 
the  country  ;  w^hile  their  accompanying  virtues,  those 
public  works  to  provide  for  cleanliness,  health,  and 
morals, — these  are  ph3'sically  impossible  in  the  country. 

The  evils  of  overcrowding,  of  noise,  of  nervous 
strain,  and  the  like,  are  not  civic  evils,  but  economic 
evils,  which  will  pass  when  we  are  wiser. 

The  farmer's  wife  goes  mad  in  her  isolation,  silence, 
and  lack  of  stimulus,  just  as  the  citizen's  wife  has 
nervous  prostration  under  opposite  conditions.  The 
farmer  breaks  down  under  the  strain  of  paying  the 
mortgage,  just  as  the  citizen  breaks  down  under  a 
closer  competition.  These  are  economic  evils,  not  due 
to  city  or  country. 

Civilization — the  citying  of  humanit}^ — means  much. 
The  development  of  the  individual  is  commensurate 
with  the  development  of  society,  and  that  depends 
upon  the  development  of  the  arts,  sciences,  and  indus- 
tries  which   constitute    the   functional   activities   and 


The  House,  37 

maintain  the  structure  of  society.  And  the  develop- 
ment of  these  arts,  sciences,  and  industries  requires 
quick,  free,  and  general  communication  between  num- 
bers of  men  ;  who  must  therefore  live  near  together 
and  in  conditions  of  public  peace  and  carefulness.  The 
fuller  the  provision  of  the  city  for  the  personal  wants 
of  its  constituents,  the  freer  the  interchange  of  power 
which  builds  the  human  world. 

Follow  your  histor}^ ;  the  nation  without  a  cit}^  is  no 
nation  at  all.  Isolation  is  not  freedom.  The  savage 
walks  in  danger  ;  the  citizen  lives  in  peace, — peace 
born  of  numbers  and  co-ordination  ;  and  peace  means 
plenty. 

We  speak  of  the  ugliness  of  cities — the  beauty  of  the 
country.  As  the  garden  to  the  desert,  as  the  palace  to 
the  quarry,  should  be  the  city  to  the  country.  Have 
not  our  highest  and  most  cultivated  thinkers,  poets, 
artists,  sages,  found  "  the  most  beautiful  of  all  earthly 
places  "  in  a  city — Venice  crowned  Queen  of  the  Adri- 
atic and  celebrated  in  a  thousand  songs  and  stories. 
Was  it  not  a  citj^  the  New  Jerusalem — which  the 
prophet  saw  descending  out  of  Heaven  to  usher  in  the 
reign  of  peace  on  earth  ?  What  order  of  beaut)^  it  is 
that  belongs  to  our  best  thought  of  the  city  is  beauti- 
fully put  in  a  poem  called  City  s  Beauty,  by  Mrs.  Char- 
lotte Stetson. 

CITY'S  BKAUTY. 

Fair,  O  fair  are  the  hills  uncrowned, 

Only  wreathed  and  garlanded 

With  the  soft  clouds  overhead, 
With  the  waving  streams  of  rain  ; 
Fair  in  golden  sunlight  drowned, 

Bathed  and  buried  in  the  bright 

Warm  luxuriance  of  light — 
Fair  the  hills  without  a  stain. 


38  Household  Economics, 

Fairer  far  the  hills  should  stand 
Crowned  with  a  city's  halls, 
With  the  glimmer  of  white  walls, 

With  the  climbing  grace  of  towers  ; 

Fair  with  great  fronts  tall  and  grand, 
Stately  streets  that  meet  the  sky, 
Lovely  roof-lines,  low  and  high — 

Fairer  for  the  days  and  hours. 

Woman's  beauty  fades  and  flies, 

In  the  passing  of  the  years, 

With  the  falling  of  the  tears. 
With  the  lines  of  toil  and  stress  ; 
City's  beauty  never  dies — 

Never  while  her  people  know 

How  to  love  and  honor  so 
Her  immortal  loveliness. 

When  we  vSpeak  of  The  City  Beautiful,  it  is  not  a 
series  of  farm-houses,  or  an  expanse  of  prairie  of  which 
we  think — nor  a  collection  of  cottages  each  with  its 
traditional  vine,  nor  is  it  a  collection  of  suburban  villas. 
All  these  are  protoplasmic,  so  to  speak.  The  city  is 
ganglion,  and  means  the  work  of  the  ganglion.  Where 
great  public  uses  are  to  be  served,  certain  essentials  of 
fine  architecture  are  at  once  possible, — size,  durability, 
adaptation  of  form  to  function  and  character,  and  full 
provision  for  multiple  occupancy. 

The  passage  from  the  hut  to  the  great  modern  hotel ; 
from  the  tent  to  the  tenement, — means  the  passage 
from  savagery  to  civilization. 

There  are  cities  so  fair  that  he  who  looks  upon  them 
feels  the  heart  swell  and  the  eyes  fill  with  delight. 
"See  Damascus  and  die  !  "  the  word  of  the  prophet  to 
whom  it  gave  that  conception  of  the  heaven  most  to  be 
desired,  has  transferred  itself  to  modern  phrase,  and 
repeats  itself  in  Florence  ;  above  all,  since  in  the  Italian 


The  House.  39 

cities  of  our  time  beauty  has  had  a  larger  share  thau 
in  any  other  day  or  land  since  Greece  gave  us  its 
highest  type.  The  City  Beautiful  is  for  us  still  to  come, 
— that  "dream  city,"  of  the  Great  Fair  foreshadowing 
v/hat  it  is  to  be. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  AND   RKFEJRKNCES. 

The  House  That  Jill  Built,  by  B.  C.  Gardner. 

Homes  and  How  to  Make  Them,  by  E.  C.  Gardner. 

Villages  and  Village  Life,  by  Nathaniel  C.  Eggleston. 

Hygeia :  A  Model  of  City  Health,  by  Dr.  Benjamin  W.  Rich- 
ardson. 

The  City  zvithout  a  Cktirch,  by  Henry  Drummond. 

The  Ajicient  City,  by  Coulanges. 

The  Easiest  Way,  by  Helen  Campbell.     Chap.  I. 

An  Ideal  Kitchen,  by  Maria  Parloa. 

"Health  and  Comfort  in  Houses,"  by  J.  P.  Hay  ward,  Popular 
Science  Monthly,  vol.  iv.,  p.  69. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  BUILDING  OF  THE  HOUSE. 

The  Place  of  Architecture  in  Household  Economics — Relation 
to  other  Arts — Primitive  Architecture  and  its  Development : 
Domestic,  Civic,  and  Ecclesiastic— The  City  and  the  King 
— Ancient  Architecture,  Public  and  Private — Herculaneum 
and  Pompeii — Character  of  Oriental  Home — Effect  of  House 
on  its  Occupants — The  House  and  the  Family — Confusion 
of  Domestic  with  Industrial  Architecture — Rooms  and  their 
Relation — Existing  Conditions  of  Domestic  Architecture  in 
Europe  and  America— Built  to  Live  in  and  Built  to  Sell — 
Limitation  of  the  Private  Home — Gridiron  Topography — 
Need  of  Combination  and  Juxtaposition — Essentiality  of 
the  Separate  Home— Our  Present  Trend. 

WHAT  the  house  is  to  the  household  has  been 
indicated  in  the  preceding  pages  ;  but  there 
is  room  for  further  explanation  as  to  the 
architecture  thereof.  The  size  and  shape  of  your  man- 
sion are  of  as  much  importance  as  the  size  and  shape 
of  your  body  ;  and  beyond  that,  the  materials  and 
methods  of  building  are  of  as  much  importance  as  the 
quality  of  bone  and  muscle  and  their  just  combination. 
The  architecture  of  a  race,  as  every  other  art,  mirrors 
its  character  for  good  and  ill,  for  advance,  stay,  and 
retrogression. 

We  have  been  too  long  accustomed  to  detach  soul 


The  Building  of  the  House,  41 

from  body  and  to  claim  that  their  progress  was  not  only 
independent  but  diametrically  opposed.  A  sane  mind 
in  a  sound  body  is  as  truly  connected  as  a  sane  house- 
hold in  a  sound  house, — not  more  so. 

National  character,  modified  by  conditions,  may  be 
read  in  the  nation's  architecture  ;  and  in  our  American 
architecture,  be  its  conditions  what  they  may,  the  read- 
ing is  but  faintly  hopeful.  So  far,  condition  is  more 
apparent  than  character.  Our  haste,  our  wide  inven- 
tion and  narrow  execution,  our  short-sighted  economy 
in  essentials  and  low-bred  profusion  of  cheap  ornament, 
our  laughable  ignorance  of  the  ABC  of  true  art, — all 
these  may  be  seen  in  our  architecture  ;  but  there  is 
much  more  noble  material  in  the  American  character 
which  is  yet  to  be  seen.  Right  here,  I  wish  to  draw 
attention  to  a  parallel  form  of  art,  and  show  how  evil 
in  one  direction  works  evil  in  another.  Women  are 
not  yet  largely  architects,  but  they  are  largely  crit- 
ics, potential  purchasers,  and  what  is  even  more,  edu- 
cators of  purchasers.  Now  while  our  women  follow 
the  lead  of  fashion  in  dress  as  unintelligently  as  they 
do,  that  characteristic  of  sheep-like  submission  will 
distinguish  their  children,  and  the  educational  influ- 
ence of  such  a  low  taste  keeps  back  the  art  sense  in 
their  families.  Therefore  do  we  go  on  following  fashion 
in  architecture  as  blindlj^  as  in  dress,  and  fail  to  develop 
that  firm,  clear,  intelligent  taste  which  would  soon 
line  our  streets  with  beauty  instead  of  with  blatant 
ugliness. 

Architecture  is  one  of  the  first  home  arts  ;  quite  the 
first  to  reach  any  eminence.  It  was  the  first  expression 
of  the  social  spirit ;  Vv^eapon,  dish,  and  tool  were  largely 
personal ;  the  temple  early  grew  as  the  common  cover- 
ing of  many  souls  and  the  expression  of  a  great  idea. 


42  Household  Eco7iomics, 

Sculpture  is  the  direct  outcome  of  architecture,  and 
was  long  used  only  in  connection  with  it.  Painting 
began  upon  its  walls,  and  still  is  hung  there,  although 
now  removable.  And  all  the  other  arts  are  traceable 
to  architecture,  directly  or  indirectly, — together  v/ith 
every  other  form  of  human  progress, — in  that  the  shel- 
ter of  roof  and  wall  is  needed  by  them  all,  and  the 
relative  effect  of  structure  good  and  bad  is  always 
shown  in  them. 

Races  vary  in  the  pre-eminence  of  one  and  another 
art ;  but  a  certain  proportion  must  be  maintained. 
That  Italy,  mother  of  arts,  shows  masterpieces  in  them 
all,  proves  only  how  inevitably  they  help  each  other. 

Of  the  three  divisions  of  architecture  in  all  ages, — do- 
mestic, civic,  and  ecclesiastic, — domestic  was  latest  in 
its  development,  and  ecclesiastic  has  maintained  its 
precedence  down  to  modern  times,  the  civic  gaining  in 
importance  and  in  beauty  as  nations  made  their  slow 
and  hesitating  progress  toward  civilization.  Back  in 
the  Stone  age,  the  cave-dweller  piled  up  mounds  of 
stone  as  an  altar  to  unknown  forces  before  which  he 
trembled,  and  finally  turned  them  into  altars  on  which 
he  laid  sacrifices  to  the  same  dread  power,  only  to  be 
propitiated  by  blood.  Over  graves  of  kindred  he 
reared  the  same  sort  of  piles,  as  memorial  and  as  pro- 
tection against  evil  vSpirits, — and  thus  began  the  first 
temples  and  the  first  tombs.  The  oldest  known  struc- 
tures on  the  earth,  the  pyramids  which  for  five  thou- 
sand years  have  held  their  place,  are  simply  monuments 
to  the  kings  who  sought  thus  to  make  their  names 
immortal. 

With  the  hollowing  out  of  tombs  in  rocks  came 
sculpture  as  a  decoration, — and  here  too  Egypt  gives 
us  our  first  records,  stamping  ineffaceably  on  every 


The  Building  of  the  House,  43 

inch  of  the  material  in  which  they  wrought,  their 
character  as  a  people.  Their  art  differs  from  that  of 
all  other  nations,  since  having  in  the  beginning  formu- 
lated certain  rules,  they  adhered  to  them  rigidly.  As  a 
rule,  when  a  nation  rises  in  freedom  and  power,  the 
arts  rise  with  it ;  and  if  it  falls,  its  art  is  lowered  with 
it.  Fourteen  hundred  years  before  Christ,  Kg3'pt  in 
her  mysterious  v.'phinx  reached  the  highest  point  of 
development,  and  from  that  period  on  not  a  line 
changed.  Kings  and  priests  absolute  despots  ;  a  peo- 
ple under  complete  subjection  ;  every  artist  and  worker 
the  subject  of  immutable  law, — all  this  produced  one 
unchanging  type.  Added  to  this  was  the  minute  sub- 
division of  labor,  which  then,  as  now,  prevented  any 
full  and  harmonious  development  of  power.  In  their 
wall  paintings,  for  example,  one  man  prepared  the 
surface,  a  second  drew  the  outline,  a  third  hollowed 
these  outlines  for  sunk  relief,  and  a  fourth  laid  on  the 
color.  Then,  too,  the  artist  in  Egypt  was  looked  upon 
merely  as  an  artisan  and  classed  in  the  lowest  rank. 
Art  was  chosen  not  from  natural  bent,  but  because  the 
son  followed  the  employment  of  the  father.  Not  one 
has  left  a  footprint  that  can  be  said  to  be  strictly  his 
own  ;  and  thus  in  temple  and  tomb,  palace  and  private 
dwelling,  the  same  sombre,  heavy,  restricted  forms  are 
all  that  we  find.  Assyria,  India,  China,  may  vary  in 
form,  but  the  type  of  work  is  the  same,  and  undeviat- 
ing,  fixed  regularity  is  the  characteristic  of  each  and  all. 

"  Eastern  art  held  b}^  mathematical  or  mechanical  proportion 
exclusively,"  writes  Walter  Pater  ;  "  the  Greek  apprehends  of 
it  as  the  main  truth  that  it  is  a  living  organism  with  freedom 
of  movement,  and  hence  the  infinite  possibilities  of  motion  and 
of  expression  by  motion  with  which  the  imagination  credits 
the  higher  sort  of  Greek  sculpture.     ...     In  the  works  of 


44  Household  Economics. 

the  Asiatic  tradition,  in  the  marbles  of  Nineveh,  for  instance, 
the  form  of  man  is  inadequate  and  below  the  measure  of  per- 
fection attained  there  in  the  lowest  representation  of  the  lower 
forms  of  life  ;  just  as  in  the  lively  reflective  art  of  Japan,  so 
lovely  in  its  reproduction  of  flower  and  bird,  the  human  form 
comes  almost  as  a  caricature,  or  is  at  least  untouched  by  any 
higher  ideal.  To  that  Asiatic  tradition  then,  with  its  perfect 
craftmanship,  its  consummate  skill  in  design,  its  power  of  hand, 
the  Dorian,  the  European,  the  true  Hellenic  influence  brought 
a  revelation  of  the  mind  and  body  of  man." 

Why  have  I  quoted  this  ?  Because  it  is  the  word  of 
a  great  art  critic,  who  saw,  like  the  modern  historian 
of  art,  that  only  when  the  higher  evolution  of  man 
became  a  part  of  the  national  thought,  could  art  take 
its  true  place.  Egypt  and  all  that  background  of  vast 
monarchies  and  dynasties  had  temples,  palaces,  tombs  ; 
but  they  had  practically  no  homes.  The  myriads  of 
human  beings  swarming  like  ants  about  the  vast  con- 
structions whose  building  is  still  v/rapped  in  mystery, 
ate  as  they  worked  and  slept  where  they  fell  ;  or,  if  of  a 
slightly  higher  class,  returned  to  hut  or  low  dwelling. 

Through  the  Greek  came  the  first  possibilities  of 
domestic  architecture,  and  Grecian  influence  made  that 
of  Rome,  and  even  affected  that  remote  India,  from 
which  they  in  turn  borrowed  the  best  it  had  to  give. 
But  the  life  of  the  Greek  was  chiefly  public,  and  his 
highest  efforts  in  art  were  given  to  the  temples  of  his 
gods  and  the  buildings  of  the  state.  The  ancient 
Greeks,  according  to  Plato,  had  four  wishes  :  ist,  To 
be  healthy  ;  2d,  To  be  beautiful ;  3d,  To  be  rich  hon- 
estly ;  4th,  To  be  gay  and  merry  with  one's  friends. 
To  this  last  end,  the  dining-halls  of  their  simple  houses 
grew  more  and  more  elaborate  in  ornamentation. 

The  Greek,  however,  had  no  pride  in  the  appearance 
of  his  dwelling,  and  the  banquet  hall  soon  depended 


The  Building  of  the  House,  45 

upon  beauty  of  line  and  perfection  of  finish  in  structure 
rather  than  on  any  gorgeousness  of  furnishing.  The 
Roman,  whose  conception  of  art  came  through  the 
conquest  of  the  Greeks,  tended,  on  the  contrary,  more 
and  more  to  extremes  of  luxury.  The  remains  of 
Pompeii  stand  to  us  as  their  highest  ideal.  The  Ro- 
man dwelling-house  was  in  the  beginning  identical 
with  that  of  Htruria  and  of  all  central  Italy.  It  had 
Grecian  characteristics,  but  the  Italian  atrium  had  no 
columnar  supports  for  the  roof,  and  it  remained  in  use 
even  after  the  Greek  peristyle  had  been  generally 
adopted  in  more  public  edifices.  The  house  of  Pansa 
at  Pompeii  is  the  one  most  generally  familiar  to  us  all 
and  of  the  highest  t3^pe  of  Roman  domestic  architec- 
ture. It  includes  both  varieties  of  court,  both  atrium 
and  peristyle  being  surrounded  by  chambers,  and  those 
of  the  upper  story,  with  part  of  the  lower,  being  lighted 
only  through  doors  opening  from  the  inner  courts,  and 
used  as  bedrooms,  bare  and  undecorated.  The  larger 
halls  were  often  vaulted  and  columns  w^ere  introduced, 
not  for  support  but  as  decorative  members.  Magnifi- 
cent dining-rooms,  great  libraries,  and  galleries  of  pic- 
tures became  prominent  features,  and  many  men  of 
condition  had  private  basilicas,  or  halls  of  justice, 
where  private  councils  were  held  on  public  and  private 
matters.  The  women's  apartments  had  a  court  of 
their  own,  and  while  the  sleeping-rooms  were  seldom 
much  more  than  cubicles,  there  were  ofiices  of  many 
orders, — spinning,  weaving,  and  all  household  indus- 
tries going  on  under  the  eye  of  the  mistress.  The  city, 
then  as  now,  summed  up  the  best  things  the  people 
knew  and  formed  the  background  for  the  stately  and 
noble  civic  life.  Without  it,  the  king  would  have 
been  practically  impossible,  since  from  its  focussion  of 


46  Household  Economics, 

the  resources  of  the  country  at  its  back  his  revenues 
were  drawn,  his  armies  recruited,  and  the  progress  of 
the  state  assured.  To  make  the  city  beautiful  was 
part  of  his  kingly  prerogative.  Each  city  sought  to 
rival  its  neighbor  in  the  beauty  of  its  temples  and 
statues  and  public  buildings.  Each  city  entertained 
at  public  expense  the  artist,  sculptor,  painter,  or  archi- 
tect, who  brought  with  him  a  great  name  earned  by 
noble  work.  "  The  artist  is  the  only  wise  man,"  was 
a  saying  of  Socrates,  and  the  statue  of  the  artist  was 
placed  near  those  of  the  gods.  Neither  fancy  nor  fash- 
ion could  determine  his  reputation,  but  only  the  for- 
mally delivered  judgment  of  the  wisest  men.  Compare 
this  with  the  standing  in  our  own  country  of  the  best 
names  w^e  own,  and  you  will  have  one  reason  why 
architecture  for  America,  like  other  arts,  is  still  in  its 
infancy. 

For  the  Greek,  and  in  time  for  all  who  imitated  him, 
the  commonest  things  were  made  beautiful.  As  Pater 
well  puts  it : 

**For  them,  every  aspect  of  life  is  beautified  by  cunning 
hands.  The  thrones,  coffers,  couches  of  curious  carpentery, 
are  studded  with  bossy  ornaments  of  precious  metals  effectively 
disposed,  or  inlaid  with  stained  ivory,  or  blue  cyanus,  or  amber, 
or  pale  amber-like  gold.  The  surfaces  of  the  stone  conduits, 
the  public  washing-troughs,  the  ramparts  on  which  the  weary 
soldiers  rest  themselves,  are  fair  and  smooth  ;  all  the  fine  quali- 
ties in  color  and  texture  of  woven  stuff  are  carefully  noted ; 
the  fineness,  closeness,  softness,  pliancy,  gloss,  the  whiteness, 
or  nectar-like  tints  in  which  the  weaver  delights  to  work  and 
to  weave  the  sea-purple  threads,  is  an  appropriate  function  of 
queens  and  noble  women.  The  very  gods  came  down  to  help 
them  make  these  things  of  beauty  ;  yet  every  one  of  them 
ministered  only  to  simple  and  healthy  requirements,  and  there 
was  no  ostentation,  no  extravagance,  no  undue  luxury,  no 
vulgarity." 


The  Buildmg  of  the  House,  47 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  noblest  architecture  the 
world  has  known  grew  simply  and  naturally  as  a  tree 
grows,  and  all  the  people  knew  its  meaning,  and  hon- 
ored him  who  built,  no  less  than  him  who  painted,  or 
who  added  sculpture  as  the  final  touch  of  beauty. 

As  to  the  Oriental  home  at  its  best,  it  has  some  of 
the  characteristics  of  the  Greek,  its  open  court  and 
fountain,  its  narrow  sleeping-chambers,  and  its  specific 
apartments  for  women.  All  this,  as  it  arranges  itself 
for  Oriental  nations,  you  may  see  in  turning  over  the 
pages  of  the  authorities  in  the  histor}"  of  architecture, 
— sumptuousness  of  decoration  being  as  certain  as  was 
the  lack  of  most  of  the  arrangements  that  to  us  mean 
comfort.  That  word  belongs  more  truly  to  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  than  to  any  other  race,  and  has  in  his  dictionary 
so  large  a  place  that  it  has  left  little  room  for  beauty. 
One  feature  of  this  Oriental  home,  especially  that  of 
Palestine  and  Arabia,  we  may,  however,  well  note, — 
and  that  is  the  life  of  the  housetop,  including  the 
sleeping  under  the  open  sky.  America  has  a  summer 
hardly  less  torrid  than  the  torrid  zone  itself,  and  though 
the  suggestion  will  send  a  thrill  of  horror  to  the  order 
of  mind  that  declaims  against  "night  air,"  we  know 
that  night  air  is  all  the  kind  of  air  that  night  can  offer 
us,  and  that  it  must,  in  the  nature  of  things,  be  better 
than  a  vacuum,  or  the  deadly  poison  thrown  off  by 
human  lungs.  Sleeping  in  the  open  air  is  one  of  the 
prescriptions  for  consumption,  and  if  it  cures  that  dis- 
ease, as  we  know  in  many  cases  it  has,  why  should  it 
not  also  prevent  ?  It  v/ould  be  possible  to  reserve  and 
arrange  a  flat,  well  guarded  portion  of  the  roof  for 
this  summer  sleeping  in  hammock  or  on  light  cot,  with 
an  adjustable  awning  in  case  of  rain.  I  have  tried  it 
during  a  New  Jersey  summer,  to  my  own  happiness 


48  Household  Economics, 

and  comfort,  and  whoever  lies  down  under  the  hush 
and  the  pervading  quiet  of  the  open  sky  drinks  in  a 
calm  and  refreshment  all  healing  in  its  action  and  never 
to  be  forgotten.  Take  this  hint  then  from  the  wise 
Oriental  and  add  a  new  pleasure  to  living. 

You  will  notice  how  among  these  ancient  races  there 
was  little  household  architecture,  because  there  was 
little  household  life.  The  Roman  had  more  familj-  life 
than  the  Greek  and  more  family  architecture. 

The  modern  family  is  the  body  of  which  otu  new 
word  ' '  home  ' '  expresses  the  spirit,  and  of  which  our 
house  is  the  outer  shell.  The  intense  development  of 
this  family  spirit  and  its  transmission  of  external  or- 
ganism, through  primogeniture,  give  us  a  continuous 
family  spirit  wherein  the  generations  are  but  links — 
not  breaks — and  where  the  transmitted  dwelling-place 
becomes  so  identified  with  the  spirit  that  the  word 
*  *  house  ' '  comes  to  stand  for  both.  ' '  The  House  of 
Usher  ' '  has  a  double  meaning,  and  all  through  modem 
literature  you  will  find  the  same  use  of  the  word, — a 
strong  and  true  use. 

It  is  a  good  growth,  and  means  a  nobler  and  more 
durable  domestic  architecture  than  has  ever  obtained 
when  the  house  was  built  only  for  the  transient  use  of 
a  few  people  in  one  generation. 

As  to  the  existing  conditions  of  domestic  architect- 
ure in  Europe  and  America,  the  advantage  is  in  some 
points  on  the  European  side  ;  on  others,  with  us.  The 
European  house,  as  a  rule,  represents  good  design, 
solidity  of  construction,  beauty  of  finish,  deadened  floors, 
so  that  the  upper  rooms  are  not  at  the  mercy  of  noises 
from  the  lower  ones,  and  a  general  sense  of  harmony 
and  proportion.  On  the  other  hand,  the  conveni- 
ences which  all  town-bred  people  and  most  villagers 


The  Bitildmg  of  the  House,  49 

in  America  take  for  granted  are  in  the  towns  and  vil- 
lages of  Europe  almost  unknown.  I  have  in  mind 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  homes  in  which  I  lived 
for  months  in  Germany — a  mansion  most  fair  to  look 
upon,  with  a  staff  of  six  well  trained  servants  and  a 
delightfully  arranged  series  of  rooms.  Beauty  was  in 
every  one  of  them,  but  the  house  had  no  bath-room 
and  no  decent  system  of  drainage  ;  its  water  supply 
was  defective  and  of  suspicious  quality  ;  and  though  a 
Heidelberg  winter  means  snow  and  ice,  there  were  no 
fireplace  grates  and  no  provision  for  heating  beyond 
porcelain  stoves.  Personally  I  prefer  these  stoves  to 
the  furnaces  which  dry  every  tissue  and  are  a  steady 
invitation  and  welcome  to  grip  and  bronchitis  ;  but 
there  is  a  happy  mean  of  which  the  Continent  of 
Europe  knows  nothing. 

The  German  kitchen,  and  that  of  Holland,  is  a  de- 
light with  its  wainscot  of  tiles,  its  beautiful  order  of 
arrangement  and  detail  in  store-room  and  pantry,  and 
its  systematized  methods  of  work.  But  until  we  reach 
England,  we  do  not,  as  a  rule,  find  in  southern  or 
in  far  northern  Europe  what  the  American  counts  as 
essential  to  comfort  in  daily  living. 

In  England,  domestic  service  is  of  so  high  a  grade 
that  life  seems  easy,  but  whoever  looks  beneath  the 
service  finds  work  done  under  conditions  that  the 
American  servant  would  regard  as  intolerable.  The 
English  kitchen  of  the  cities  is  even  more  depressing 
than  the  American  basement,  and  the  use  of  soft  coal 
as  fuel  makes  an  eternal  conflict  with  saucepans.  The 
average  builder  meets  the  desire  of  the  average  cook, 
who  clings  obstinately  to  his  open  grate  and  side  oven, 
and  who  sniffs  suspiciously  at  the  new  forms  of  French 
and  American  ranges  and  stoves,  which  with  us  are  a 


50  Household  Eco7iomics. 

regular  part  of  the  newer  plumbing  methods  and  built 
into  the  house  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  offices  of  a 
great  English  house  make  a  colony  in  themselves,  from 
the  housekeeper's  or  house-steward's  private  sitting- 
room  with  all  its  dependencies  of  store-rooms  and  pan- 
tries, to  the  servants'  dining-room  and  special  quarters. 
But  flagged  passages,  damp  walls,  and  no  provision  for 
heating,  save  here  and  there  an  open  grate,  make  a 
comfortless  impression  and  send  a  chill  to  the  very- 
marrow  of  the  American  housekeeper.  The  newer 
houses  in  England — the  fine  ones  of  this  generation 
— are  ideal  in  beauty  and  comfort.  Mrs.  H.  R.  Haweis 
in  Beautiful  Homes  gives  us  interesting  descriptions  of 
a  number  of  these,  among  them  Alma  Tadema's,  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  houses  of  modern  times.  The 
cheap  house  built  to  rent  is  of  much  the  same  order  of 
offensiveness  as  its  American  prototype,  and  far  less 
comfortable  in  its  appointments.  Much  of  the  modem 
English  building  is  as  inferior  in  its  own  way  as  is  our 
own. 


"The  old  brick  mansions  of  the  early  Georgian  era,  although 
unpretentious  in  appearance,  were  at  least  as  strong  as  good 
burnt  clay  and  duly  mixed  honest  mortar  could  make  them ; 
the  walls  were  of  substantial  thickness  ;  the  timber  was  well 
seasoned  and  of  ample  dimensions  ;  the  foundations  were  well 
laid;  the  roof  was  of  convenient  pitch  and  covered  with  the 
best  of  slates  ;  the  doors  were  securely  hung,  and  a  true  lintel, 
or  a  real  arch,  with  properly  tapering  ends,  was  turned  over 
every  window.  The  woodwork  was  excellent  in  workmanship 
and  frequently  spirited  in  detail ;  while  the  wrought  iron  intro- 
duced to  decorate  their  facades  in  the  shape  of  gates  and  area 
railings,  was  designed  in  thorough  accordance  with  the  nature 
and  properties  of  the  material  employed." — Hints  on  Household 
Taste,  by  Sir  Charles  Eastlake,  p.  8. 


The  Building  of  the  House.  5 1 

This  is  the  English  house  as  Sir  Charles  Eastlake 
describes  it,  and  having  described  the  rise  and  progress 
of  stucco,  he  goes  on  with  his  arraignment  of  the  house 
of  to-day  : 

•'Plaster  brackets  support  plaster  pediments;  stucco  bas-re- 
liefs are  raised  upon  a  stucco  ground  ;  the  whole  front  is  a  sham 
from  the  basement  storey  to  the  attic.  But  murder  will  out, 
and  by  degrees  this  prodigious  imposition  begins  to  reveal  it- 
self. A  mouldy  green  dampness  exudes  from  the  hastily  con- 
structed walls.  The  ill-fated  stucco  blisters  up  and  peels  off  in 
all  directions.  Ugly  fissures  appear  on  the  house-front  caused 
by  some  settlement  arising  from  bad  foundations.  The  wretched 
parodies  on  carved  work  become  chipped  away  by  accident  or 
crumble  to  fragments  under  the  influence  of  the  weather.  It 
had  only  a  meretricious  excellence  when  fresh  from  the  paint- 
er's hands.  A  few  years  have  made  it  a  dingy  abode  ;  a  few 
more  years  will  make  it  a  ghastly  ruin." 

As  to  the  interior,  he  tells  us  : 

"  Floor  boards  come  up  unexpectedly  after  separating  from 
the  skirting  ;  doors  shrink  so  that  they  cannot  be  securely  fast- 
ened ;  window  sashes  warp  and  become  immovable  ;  marble 
chimney-pieces  are  gradually  detached  from  the  wall  behind 
them.  The  external  disorder  only  foreshadows  the  internal  dis- 
comfort. .  .  .  It  is  unpleasant  to  live  within  ugly  walls;  it 
is  still  more  unpleasant  to  live  within  unstable  walls  ;  but  to  be 
obliged  to  live  within  a  tenement  which  is  both  unstable  and 
ugly  is  disagreeable  in  tenfold  degree.  " 

Such  houses  as  these  one  sees  by  the  hundred  in  the 
outskirts  of  London— a  province  in  itself— and  in  the 
manufacturing  towns.  It  should  be  added,  however, 
that  the  number  of  new  ones  built  on  the  same  plan 
has  been  materiall}'  lessened  since  this  protest  was 
made,  no  man  having  spoken  with  more  distinct  effect 
than  has  its  author.  And  there  is  so  much  that  is  no- 
ble and  beautiful  that  one  can  well  ignore  the  mean  and 


52  Household  Economics. 

poor.  As  a  whole,  domestic  architecture  in  Europe 
pleases  the  e3^e, — in  many  cases  delights  it,  and  till  you 
have  wandered  in  old  cathedral  towns  of  England,  or 
in  the  quaint  cities  of  the  Continent,  you  will  not  know 
what  fascination  may  lie  in  brick  and  stone  and  iron. 
European  travel  is  doing  much  for  all  forms  of  art 
among  us,  and  we  assimilate  so  quickly  that  in  a  time 
not  distant  we  shall  have  American  architecture  of 
which  we  need  not  be  ashamed. 

In  short,  with  all  our  glaring  defects  in  taste,  and 
something  worse  than  this — the  actual  dishonesty  of 
much  of  our  building  in  general  flimsiness,  use  of  poor 
material,  and  hasty  finish,  there  is  no  other  country 
where  the  population  as  a  whole  is  so  well  housed. 
The  American  mechanic,  in  Philadelphia,  for  example, 
gets  more  comfort  in  return  for  his  money  than  the  Eng- 
lish worker  ever  knows,  and  the  standard  with  us 
is  a  steadily  rising  one. 

The  possibility  of  something  beside  the  rectangular 
method  is  dawning  upon  American  city  architects,  and 
we  have  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn  an  entire  block  owned 
by  Mr.  Alfred  White,  who  built  the  first  model  tene- 
ments for  that  city.  This  block  is  built  about  an  open 
court,  with  fountains,  trees,  and  shrubs.  Every  modern 
improvement  has  been  used,  always  in  simplest  forms, 
but  of  perfect  material.  No  millionaire's  home  has 
more  thorough  finish,  and  building  a  block  at  once  has 
been  found  to  so  reduce  the  expense  for  each  house  that 
the  landlord  is  enabled  to  rent  them  for  less  than  the 
same  grade  of  individual  houses  bring  and  yet  receive 
an  equal  percentage  on  the  original  cost.  The  union 
of  numbers  who  guarantee  to  take  and  keep  in  order  a 
block  of  this  description  lessens  immensely  the  cost  for 
each  family,  and  gives  an  order  of  comfort  and  finish 


The  Building  of  the  House,  53 

impossible  in  the  ordinary  workman's  house.  Built  to 
live  in  and  built  to  sell  are  phrases  that  have  long  car- 
ried to  us  all  the  sense  of  comfort  on  the  one  hand  ;  of 
cheapness  and  consequent  unending  irritation  and 
discomfort  on  the  other. 

The  great  apartment  houses  of  our  cities  are  demon- 
strating how  much  comfort  can  be  increased  by  the 
lessening  of  labor,  a  common  heating  apparatus  and 
plumbing  system  doing  away  at  once  with  one  of  the 
heaviest  labors  of  the  private  house, — the  lifelong 
wrestle  with  coal  and  ashes.  When  the  time  comes 
that  shall  bring  a  better  system  of  planning  and  solid 
construction,  each  family  v/ill  be  as  free  from  noise  and 
the  other  infelicities  of  ' '  flat ' '  life  as  is  the  dweller  in 
the  best  private  house  ;  but  until  women  study  this 
matter  and  bring  trained  intelligence  and  a  recon- 
structed sense  of  what  a  house  should  mean  to  bear 
upon  this  most  vital  of  needs,  we  shall  still  have  to 
submit  to  a  myriad  of  unnecessary  evils. 

To  build  properly,  we  must  know  not  only  the 
underlying  essentials  already  mentioned,  but  also  what 
order  of  architecture  best  suits  your  own  place  in  life 
and  the  spot  on  which  the  house  must  stand.  Often 
one  sees  a  house  stately  and  fine  in  plan  and  demand- 
ing as  its  setting  the  sweep  of  green  turf  and  groups  of 
trees,  but  set  down  in  a  space  so  narrow  and  with  sur- 
roundings so  absolutely  inappropriate  that  the  whole 
thing  is  dwarfed  and  belittled. 

The  house  that  is  charming  in  a  southern  climate 
becomes  a  terror  in  a  northern  one.  A  hill  requires  a 
different  structure  from  that  in  a  valley.  A  prairie 
covered  with  make-believe  wooden  castles,  Swiss  cha- 
lets, and  Italian  villas  makes  us  the  laughing-stock 
of  any  intelligent  foreigner. 


54  Household  Economics, 

Judicious  landscape-gardening  goes  hand  in  hand 
\vith  architecture.  To  plant  at  the  north  for  protection 
against  wind  and  storm,  to  know  what  type  of  shrub 
will  best  bring  out  some  special  point  in  niche  or  em- 
brasure and  in  turn  gain  advantage  for  each  character- 
istic of  its  own,  to  see  every  possibility  of  the  ground 
from  which  the  house  should  grow, — these  are  parts 
of  the  foundation  of  knowledge  required. 

There  is  a  house  on  one  of  the  most  beautiful  roads 
in  the  United  States, — the  Jerusalem  road  between 
Nantasket  and  Cohasset,  Mass.,  the  sea  at  one  side, 
the  piling  ledges  and  scattered  rocks  with  their  growth 
of  vine  and  shrub  seeming  to  defy  the  builder  on  the 
other.  Out  of  one  of  these  ledges  a  house  has  grown, 
for  where  ledge  ends  and  house  begins  one  can  hardly 
say.  The  architect  studied  every  inch  of  it.  Nature 
had  made  a  scheme  of  color  and  decoration  as  well  as 
a  foundation  no  man  could  better.  Of  this  same  stone 
he  made  the  house,  laying  carefully  aside  and  pro- 
tecting every  trailing  blackberry  vine,  every  clump  of 
sweet  fern.  Wide-spreading,  sturdy,  and  strong  it 
grew,  balconies  here  and  there,  a  sheltered  sunny 
piazza,  a  living-room  in  more  senses  than  one,  and  the 
overhanging  roof  as  perfectly  fitted  a  shield  and  pro- 
tection as  the  brooding  wings  of  a  mother  hen. 
Even  the  front  steps  were  not  so  much  steps  as  a  judi- 
cious selection  of  rises  in  the  ledge, — and  at  every 
jutting  point,  trailed  and  clasped  and  lived  its  own 
life  unharmed,  all  the  delicate  wild  growth  that  had 
been  and  that  remained  an  integral  and  inseparable 
part  of  the  beauty  all  may  see. 

Now  the  prairie  has  no  such  opportunity,  it  is  true, 
but  it  has  its  own  possibilities,  and  judicious  planting 
of  quick-growing  trees  will  do  for  it  all  that  is  neces- 


The  Building  of  the  House,  5  5 

sary,  and  take  at  once  from  village  or  town  that  bare 
wooden  ugliness  that  depresses  the  dweller  therein  no 
less  surely  than  it  does  the  stranger  passing  through  it. 

If  a  group  of  friends  who  proposed  to  build  on  such 
ground  pooled  their  resources  and  started  in  with  a 
definite  conception  of  what  plan  of  planting  and  build- 
ing would  produce  the  best  results,  the  very  fact  of  a 
united  purpose  would  give  a  different  expression  to  the 
whole.  As  it  is,  a  town  is  a  jumble  of  incoherencies. 
The  wealthier  people  plant  themselves  in  the  best 
places, — and  when  it  is  discovered  that  parks  and 
boulevards,  and  free  access  to  a  lake  or  river,  for  in- 
stance, are  required  as  public  needs,  every  foot  of 
ground  is  already  appropriated,  and  the  members  of 
the  city  council  gaze  upon  each  other  with  distracted 
eyes  and  wonder  why  nobody  thought  about  it  in  the 
beginning. 

With  such  study  as  will  be  done,  this  sort  of  obtuse- 
ness  will  speedily  end.  In  learning  what  beauty  of 
form  and  design  the  past  has  held,  we  shall  at  once  be 
guarded  from  any  of  the  vulgarity  and  limitations 
which  distinguish  much  of  our  American  architecture. 
The  study  of  plans  of  beautiful  houses,  the  v/orking 
out  of  our  own  thought,  will  be  not  only  enlargement 
of  perception  but  also  the  happiness  that  comes  from 
any  genuine  step  forward.  The  work  involved  is  one 
of  the  most  delightful  features  of  a  course  like  this, 
and  will  make  of  each  student  a  missionary  bearing 
the  standard  of  beauty  and  preaching  its  meaning  and 
its  use  in  that  larger  life  the  higher  education  is  to 
bring  to  all  and  for  all. 

Of  the  various  styles,  you  will  notice  that  I  have 
said  no  more  than  a  word  here  and  there.  In  these 
limits,  it  is  impossible  to  do  more.     Any  good  history 


56  Household  Economics, 

of  architecture  will  give  you  divisions  and  illustrative 
plates,  and  in  a  full  course  these  would  all  be  studied 
with  reference  to  their  applicability  to  our  own  climate 
and  mode  of  living.  The  Greek,  the  Saracenic  and 
Moorish,  the  Romanesque,  the  Gothic, — each  has  its 
meaning,  ethically  as  well  as  artistically  and  histori- 
cally— but  details  must  bide  their  time. 

One  thing  must  be  held  in  mind  by  the  student  of 
architecture  from  the  household  point  of  view.  All  ap- 
plied art  is  modified  by  use ;  and  architecture  is  an 
applied  art  in  its  very  essence.  The  use  of  the  struc- 
ture determines  its  character  from  the  beginning,  lim- 
its its  extent,  and  modifies  its  beauty.  We  feel  this 
somewhat,  even  in  America,  and  a  school-house  can  be 
distinguished  from  a  penitentiary  by  a  person  of  any 
education.  The  private  house,  in  its  essential  pur- 
poses, carries  its  architectural  limitations,  and  only 
vulgar  ignorance  will  build  beyond  them. 

First,  the  private  house  is  the  enclosure  and  expres- 
sion of  the  private  family.  It  must  express  personal- 
ity,— a  small  compound  personality  a  little  bigger  than 
that  of  one  individual,  but  not  often  beyond  that  of  a 
dozen.     Personality  is  always  limited  by  good  taste. 

Second,  the  private  house  is  limited  by  private  means, 
a  serious  consideration  at  present. 

Third,  it  is  limited  by  its  uses.  What  is  a  private 
home  for  ?  Fundamentally,  to  sleep  in,  to  hide  in — a 
place  of  shelter,  safety,  peace,  and  rest.  This  pre- 
vents too  great  a  giddiness  of  expression  ;  the  home 
should  express  quiet  and  retirement  Then  it  is  for 
the  further  purposes  of  eating  in,  cooking  in,  and 
cleaning  in. 

Now  a  sleeping-house,  a  dormitory,  is  one  thing  ;  an 
eating-house,  a  refectory,  is  another.     So  a  washing- 


The  Building  of  the  House,  57 

house,  a  lavatory,  is  one  thing,  and  a  cooking-house,  a 
cookatory,  is  quite  another.  Add  to  these  the  require- 
ments of  such  contradictory  functions  as  the  nursing 
of  the  sick,  the  care  of  the  ver>^  young  and  of  the  very 
aged,  and  the  entertainment  of  guests,  and  you  see 
that  the  Hmitations  of  the  private  house  present  no 
small  problem  to  the  architect,  and  prevent  any  very 
high  beauty  by  their  multiplicity  and  discord.  It  is  a 
compound,  at  best,  varying  in  the  occasional  predomi- 
nance of  one  or  another  function  ;  and  it  is  largely  be- 
cause of  this  incessant  production  of  compromises  that 
domestic  architecture  is  at  so  low  an  ebb  to-day. 

All  great  art  must  be  public  ;  that  is  it  must  pre- 
sent large  ideals,  generalities,  types.  The  church,  the 
palace,  the  theatre,  the  bath, — any  building  with  a 
specific  purpose, — represents  one  leading  thought,  and 
its  architecture  may  be  noble.  The  castle  was  nobler 
than  the  house  not  because  it  was  larger,  but  because 
it  represented  one  main  idea,  that  of  defence,  and  all 
other  needs  were  subservient  to  that. 

And  this  limitation  to  domestic  architecture  is  that 
the  infinite  repetition  of  the  same  kind  of  building,  all 
small  and  indeterminate  of  aspect ;  and  all,  by  their 
functional  necessities,  in  regular  connection  with  a 
common  means  of  communication,  requires  that  our 
cities  shall  be  frowsy  checker-boards,  stubble-fields  of 
chimneys,  wastes  of  monotony  that  is  not  regular  and 
of  eccentricity  without  distinction.  Our  cities  are 
gridironed  with  rectangular  streets  to  feed  the  indus- 
tries of  the  private  house  ;  and  the  higher  needs  of  hu- 
manity, space,  air,  light,  view,  grandeur,  beauty,  and 
peace — are  all  lost  sight  of  in  the  patient  struggle  of 
architect  and  engineer  to  meet  the  needs  of  this  in- 
numerable multitude  of  cook-,    eat-,    sleep-,    nurse-, 


58  Household  Economics, 

wash",  and  entertain-atories  ;  such  an  one,  for  instance 
as  Tuxedo. 

One  of  the  crying  abuses  of  this  system, — I  use  the 
word  with  painful  literalness, — is  the  lack  of  proper 
accommodation  for  children  in  the  private  house.  This 
may  have  a  strange  sound  to  you,  but  it  is  true.  Only 
the  rich  can  afford  nurseries.  Most  children  live 
*' don't  "-bounded  lives,  their  needs  unnoticed  in  the 
conflicting  interests  of  the  homes.  They  fall  down  stairs. 
Why  surround  our  babies  with  zigzag  precipices  ?  They 
fall  out  of  windows  and  into  tubs.  They  are  forever 
pinching  their  little  fingers  in  doors,  bumping  against 
tables,  tumbling  over  chairs,  coming  to  all  manner  of 
grief  in  the  daily  stress  of  manifold  household  indus- 
tries, and  they  are  lucky  if  thej^  live  to  the  age  when  a 
separate  room  can  be  afforded  them. 

Now,  while  the  absolute  necessity  for  a  separate 
home  for  each  family  remains  undisputed, — and  no 
house  was  ever  big  enough  for  two  ! — there  is  no  reason 
why  the  buildings  which  shelter  those  families  should 
not  be  so  juxtaposed  and  related  as  to  make  possible  a 
true  and  noble  architecture,  and  give  far  better  accom- 
modation than  we  have  at  present  for  every  household 
need.  Juxtaposed  our  houses  are  now,  in  the  choked 
city  streets, — driven  together  like  the  inimical  Butcher 
and  Beaver  in  Lewis  Carrol's  classic  : 

**  Until  wholly  from  nervousness  not  from  good  will, 
They  marched  along  shoulder  to  shoulder." 

Our  houses  hunch  and  hate  each  other  in  jumbled 
rows,  stand  in  chain-gangs  of  blocks  and  flats — turn 
blind  resentful  eyes  to  blank  walls  of  smothering  near- 
ness, crowd  and  jam  each  other's  lives  out  in  a  hollow 
square  that  fronts  the  world  with  dull  defiance  of  pre- 


The  Building  of  the  House.  59 

tended  separateness,  and  lose  all  privacy  in  common 
exposure  of  huddled  and  defenceless  back-yards.  We 
are  not  private  or  separate  in  any  decent  sense  at  pres- 
ent. But  we  sliall  be  when  the  architectural  genius  of 
the  age  gives  us  great  clustering  palaces  ;  when  the 
private  houses  ray  out  in  wings  and  ells  of  lawn-ringed 
separateness,  all  its  industries  subservient  and  reduced 
to  order,  and  the  whole  great  building  expressing  the 
thought  of  human  living  at  its  best. 

To  this  end  is  our  house-building  now  trending  by 
devious  ways,  but  toward  a  result  of  greatly  needed 
good. 

BIBIylOGRAPHY  AND   RKFKRKNCEJS. 

Tuthill's  History  of  Architecture,  Chap.  XIV, 

Ferguson's  History  of  Architecture. 

Haus  und  Halle,  by  Dr.  Conrad  Lange.     P.  12. 

Leben  der  Griechen  und  Romer,  by  Ernst  Kuhl  und  Koner, 

1893. 
Das  Haus,  p.  558. 

P^rzV/^5,  by  Evelyn  Abbott ;  "  Greek  Home  Life."  Chap.  XVII. 
Landscape  Gardening,  by  S.  W.  Parsons. 
Discourses  on  Architecture,  by  Viollet  Le  Due. 
The  Habitations  of  Man,  by  Viollet  Le  Due. 
Our  Colonial  Homes,  by  Samuel  Adams  Drake. 
Rural  Hornet,  by  Gervase  Wheeler. 
Some  Account  of  Domestic  Architecture  in  England  from  the 

Conquest  to  the  End  of  the  Thirteenth  Century,   by  T. 

Hudson  Trower. 
"House  Building,"  by  Helen  Churchill.     Chap.  XIV.,  in  The 

Woman's  Book. 
Am-ericaft  Interiors,  by  Charles  Wyllys. 
Architecture  for  General  Students,  by  Caroline  W.  Horton. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ORGANISM  OF  THE  HOUSE. 

Structural  Necessities— Vital  Processes  of  the  House— Air, 
Light,  Heat,  Water,  Ventilation — Troglodytes,  Ancient  and 
Modern — Proportion  of  Air  to  Occupancy — Air  and  Women 
— Air  and  Boys — "Night  Air." — Ventilation,  Public  and 
Private— Our  Schools — Light ;  Its  Influence  on  the  Body 
and  Spirit— Sun-baths— The  Artificial  Light  Habit— Heat, 
Natural  and  Artificial — Methods  of  Application — Plumbing 
— Water,  Clean  and  Unclean — Drainage,  Private  and  Pub- 
lic ;  its  Evolution,  History,  Present  Methods,  and  Tend- 
encies. 

ACCUSTOMED  as  we  are  to  considering  houses 
from  the  inside,  as  conveniences — or  incon- 
veniences— for  living  ;  and  from  the  outside  as 
things  to  be  looked  at,  or,  more  often,  to  be  looked 
away  from, — this  thought  of  the  house  as  an  organism 
with  structural  necessities  and  vital  processes  is  per- 
haps an  unusual  one  to  present.  But  a  house  is  a 
created  thing.  It  is  bom  of  the  brain  and  hand  of 
man  ;  it  lives  by  his  care,  and  dies  when  its  time  is 
come,  the  quicker  if  man's  care  is  withdrawn  from  it. 
This  we  know  practically  in  the  fact  that  a  house 
keeps  in  repair  better  when  occupied,  that  a  rentless 
tenant  is  better  than  none,  and  that  large  buildings 
when  vacated  are  supplied  with  ' '  care-takers  '  *  to  par- 
tially inhabit  them. 

60 


Orga7iism  of  the  House.  6i 

As  a  matter  of  more  careful  philosophy,  the  house  is 
a  combination  of  matter,  in  artificial  forms,  for  artificial 
uses,  and  needs  artificial  care  to  maintain  it.  It  sus- 
tains changes,  mechanical  and  chemical,  like  all  organ- 
isms ;  but,  unlike  what  we  commonly  call  a  '  *  living 
organism,"  it  has  no  vital  processes  of  its  own  to  ofiset 
those  of  waste  and  decay.  Man  is  the  soul  of  the 
house,  and  man's  occupancy  must  supply  the  vitality 
to  keep  the  house  alive. 

To  prevent  the  too  rapid  ravages  of  decomposition 
by  air  and  water,  the  house  must  be  aired  and  sunned 
and  internally  heated,  and  intelligent  care  used  to 
repair  accidental  injuries,  as  well  as  those  caused  by 
essential  decay.  The  internal  organism  of  the  house 
involves  all  these  considerations  :  It  must  be  so  win- 
dowed as  to  admit  light  to  all  parts,  lest  harm  be  done 
unseen  ;  there  must  be  means  of  access  to  and  exami- 
nation of  all  parts  ;  and  there  should  be  means  of  heat- 
ing all  parts  with  some  approach  to  equability. 

A  well-cared-for  house  may  be  lived  in  longer  and 
more  comfortably  than  may  a  neglected  one.  Yet  this 
is  but  a  minor  consideration,  compared  with  the  needs 
of  the  living  beings  inside — the  detachments  of  human- 
ity using  that  shelter  in  common. 

First  in  importance  in  this  regard  is  the  supplying 
of  the  house  with  air, — the  great  question  of  ventila- 
tion. To  understand  it,  we  must  go  back  for  some 
distance, — to  the  cave  and  hollow  tree.  The  first  use 
of  a  separate  bit  of  the  universe,  pre-empted  by  some 
ranging  bear,  was  for  shelter ;  shelter  from  the  cold, 
the  wet,  and  the  enemy.  A  small  place  was  best  for 
all  these  purposes.  He  could  warm  and  dry  it  by  his 
own  interior,  portable  furnace,  and  he  could  defend  a 
small  doorway  better  than  a  large  one.     The  hibernat- 


62  Household  Economics, 

ing  creature  needed  very  little  air,  and  the  ordinary- 
sleeping  creature  not  much  more.  They  had  air 
enough  out-doors  all  day.  They  went  in  there  to  rest, 
lungs  and  all.  So  we  find  very  little  demand  for  ven- 
tilation from  animal,  savage,  peasant,  or  low  type  of 
civilian.  The  primitive  instinct  is  still  strong,  and 
intelligence  has  not  appeared  to  combat  it. 

The  great  reason  for  ventilation  in  the  modern  house 
is  that  we  live  in  it  all  the  time.  We  no  longer  live 
out-of-doors  and  merely  go  in  the  house  to  sleep, — 
though  our  primitive-natured  children  still  like  to  do 
so.  We  live  and  work  mainly  under  shelter,  and 
therefore  need  that  shelter  ventilated.  The  need  for 
air  is  as  definite  as  the  need  of  food  ;  and  the  result  of 
foul  air  is  as  certain  as  that  of  foul  food.  This  we 
know  in  a  certain  dim  way,  as  we  know  the  distance  of 
the  fixed  stars  ;  but  we  do  not  act  upon  it.  It  would 
be  hard  to  find  a  better  instance  of  our  utterly  discon- 
nected march  of  progress  than  the  calm  way  in  which 
we  send  ahead  little  skirmish  lines  of  education, — per- 
ceiving this,  believing  that,  admitting  the  other  ;  and 
all  the  while  living  in  the  dark  ages.  We  have  pro- 
gressed from  the  filth  and  brutality  of  the  savage  in 
many  ways,  but  in  some  ways  not  at  all.  Our  eating 
habits,  for  instance,  are  tolerably  refined.  We  like  our 
food  to  be  of  good  quality,  pure  and  clean  in  material 
and  preparation,  regularly  and  amply  provided,  and, 
served  to  us  individually  on  clean  plates. 

But  our  breathing  habits !  We  are  content  to 
breathe  air  that  the  savage  would  scorn  to  stay  in  by 
day,  air  insufficient  in  quantity,  irregular  in  supply, 
and  mixed  with  all  manner  of  artificial  impurities,— 
mingled  moreover  in  charming  catholicity — all  of  us 
serenely  partaking  of  one-another's  breath  with  a  cour- 


Organism  of  the  House,  63 

teous  disregard  of  its  manifold  circulation  through  our 
defiled  and  outraged  lungs. 

The  troglodyte  of  the  dim  beginning  was  not  more 
foul  in  habit  than  is  the  troglodyte  of  our  dim  present  ; 
and  his  developement  is  kept  low  by  the  same  limita- 
tion. 

The  more  a  house  is  lived  in,  and  the  more  the  peo- 
ple who  live  in  it,  the  more  it  is  a  place  of  industry 
and  enjoyment  as  well  as  of  shelter  and  rest, — the 
more  it  needs  air  ;  and  as  a  house  is  not  open  to  the 
winds  of  heaven,  its  ventilation  must  be  artificially 
provided. 

Right  here  is  where  the  position  of  woman  has  had 
a  marked  efiect  on  the  health  of  the  race.  Speaking 
broadly,  she  has  about  half  as  much  fresh  air  as  is 
enjoyed  by  her  outgoing  companion,  with  the  same 
degree  of  consequence  to  herself  and  children  as  if 
she  had  half  as  much  food  as  she  required.  Not  only 
is  her  air  insufiicient,  it  is  bad  air  necessarily, — and 
commensurately  injurious. 

Nowadays,  when  tomboydom  is  recognized,  and  to 
gad  abroad  is  no  longer  a  reproach,  this  curse  is  lifted 
in  large  measure  ;  but  time  was  when  it  was  said  :  "  A 
woman  should  leave  her  home  but  three  times — 
when  she  is  christened,  when  she  is  married,  and  when 
she  is  buried."  Also  :  "  The  woman,  the  cat,  and  the 
chimney  should  never  leave  home." 

Perhaps  that  answerless  problem  of  perplexed 
motherhood — "  How  to  keep  the  boys  at  home,"  might 
find  partial  solution  from  this  point  of  view.  Give 
the  boys  air,  good  air  and  plenty  of  it.  Sturdy  little 
animals  with  racing  blood  and  vigorous  lungs,  no 
wonder  they  ' '  want  to  go  out-doors  ! ' '  And  it  is 
largely  because  of  the  years  of  association  of  out-of- 


64  Household  Economics. 

doors  with  its  clean  wealth  of  air  and  accompanying 
strength  and  pleasure,  and  in-doors  with  its  enforced 
detention  and  foul  suffocation  to  the  poor  little  lungs, 
that  makes  the  older  hoy  so  instinctively  refuse  to 
stay  at  home.  We  even  sometimes  compel  our  chil- 
dren to  stay  in  the  house  as  a  punishment ^ — a  colossal 
mistake  for  a  home  builder. 

Our  houses  ought  to  be  as  pure  and  fresh  in  air  as 
they  try  to  be  in  food, — and  they  will  when  w^omen 
learn  household  economics. 

Side  by  side  with  even  the  highest  evolution  walks 
prejudice  ;  the  ghost  of  a  past  that  will  not  down  and 
that  perpetually  modifies  action.  It  is  this  ghost  that 
whispers,  "Night  air!"  and  grins  a  satisfied  grin  as 
windows  go  down,  and  the  lungs  which — from  the 
very  fact  of  slower  breathing  during  sleep — require 
the  purest  possible  supply  of  air,  become  half  asphyxi- 
ated and  take  their  revenge  in  colds,  pneumonia,  and 
all  forms  of  throat  disease.  The  stout  German  whom 
I  have  seen  sitting  peacefully  drinking  his  beer  in  a 
garden  white  with  hoar  frost,  goes  home  to  hermeti- 
cally sealed  doors  and  windows,  often  with  cotton  in 
his  ears,  lest  through  an  unguarded  aperture  some 
breath  of  air  should  find  entrance.  The  Frenchman 
who  dines  outside  the  cafe  on  the  boulevard  until  the 
snow  comes,  follows  the  same  custom,  and  Southern 
Europe  is  of  the  same  mind, — night  air  being  held 
to  be  deadly  in  its  nature.  Yet,  once  more,  one  is 
compelled  to  ask,  if  we  do  not  breathe  night  air  at 
night,  what  do  we  breathe  ?  And  the  answer  is  that 
we  breathe  something  so  foul  that  a  chemical  test 
applied  would  show  it  black  and  deadly  as  any  Stygian 
mist.  Benjamin  Franklin,  one  of  the  most  common- 
sense  men  America  or  any   other  country  has   ever 


Organism  of  the  House.  65 

known,  wrote  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago:  "I 
shall  not  try  to  explahi  why  catarrhs  are  caused  by 
damp  rather  than  wet  clothes,  because  I  doubt  the 
fact,  and  suspect  that  the  causes  of  respiratory  affec- 
tions are  totally  independent  of  dampness  as  well  as 
of  cold." 

In  this  shrewd  surmise  of  one  of  the  wisest  and 
shrewdest  men  that  has  ever  lived,  lies  a  truth  that 
the  experimental  physician  is  demonstrating  every 
day  ;  yet,  as  a  whole,  it  remains  unheeded.  About 
two  million  human  beings  go  annually  to  the  con- 
sumptive's grave, — a  disease  cured  by  an  out-of-door 
life  in  pure  air  ;  the  percentage  of  pneumonia  and 
lung  diseases  in  general  increases  rather  than  lessens, 
and  throat  and  lung  specialists  wax  in  numbers  and 
grow  fat  in  purse.  It  is  worth  while,  then,  to  note 
here  certain  actual  facts. 

Consumptives  who  have  been  coughing  their  lives 
away  in  stove, — or  steam-heated  rooms,  recover  in  a 
lumber  camp.  I  have  seen  in  Minnesota,  patients  so 
ill  that  they  were  carried  on  litters,  put  into  a  bed  of 
pine  boughs  in  a  lumber  camp,  where  air  came  in  at 
every  chink,  and  where  the  only  defence  against  it  was 
rolling  in  blankets,  and  come  out  at  the  end  of  three 
months  cured.  In  the  pine  woods  of  Maine  the  same 
thing  has  been  done  for  years  by  a  famous  specialist 
in  consumption,  who  has  a  camp  in  the  deep  woods, 
and  whose  cures  are  so  certain  that  a  relapse  is  rarely 
known.  We  all  know  that  in  war  time  delicate  lungs, 
which  had  been  watched  with  life-long  precaution, 
went  into  camp,  and,  in  spite  of  camp  hardships, 
came  out  cured,  relapsing  only  on  return  to  close 
barrack  quarters. 

Pine  balsam  is  an  antidote  and  the  deep  woods  a 

5 


66  Household  Economics, 

protection,  but  in  a  variable  climate  such  results  would 
not  be  possible,  says  the  objector.  How  then  about 
the  hunter,  the  herder,  the  teamster,  exposed  to  every 
possible  variation,  and  emerging  more  sturdy  than 
before  ?  It  is  the  operative  in  a  steam-heated  factory, 
or  the  dw^eller  in  the  hot,  w^eather -proof  house  of  the 
city,  who  requires  this  constantly  increasing  army  of 
throat  and  lung  specialists,  while  the  conductor  or 
pilot,  exposed  to  the  fiercest  kind  of  draught,  comes 
home  none  the  worse  for  it. 

The  heat  habit  is  as  insidious  as  the  drink  habit, 
and  its  results  are  hardly  less  fatal.  In  the  sort  of 
temperature  the  American  loves,  the  skin  dries  and 
loses  any  power  to  fulfil  its  natural  office.  The  vic- 
tims of  grip,  so  physicians  testify,  were,  in  the  great 
proportion  of  cases,  people  who  were  in  terror  of  a 
draught,  and  lived  in  super-heated  rooms.  Croup  for 
the  babies,  bronchitis,  and  all  the  train  of  throat  and 
lung  diseases,  are  the  natural  consequence  of  breath- 
ing hot  vitiated  air,  and  the  national  catarrh,  partly 
responsible  for  the  "  American  voice,"  comes  from  the 
same  cause. 

The  doctors  themselves  preach  one  thing  and  prac- 
tise another,  and  it  is  only  when  fixed  disease  compels 
change,  that  a  new  habit  is  formed  which  revolutionizes 
the  old  methods.  Even  in  such  case,  it  is  most  often 
only  one  member  of  the  family  who  is  converted,  the 
remaining  clinging  to  old  ways  till  compelled  to  alter- 
ation by  the  same  necessity.  In  short,  the  old  delusion 
is  more  powerful  than  any  proof  of  what  it  has  wrought, 
and,  as  a  million  furnace  fires  send  up  their  first  smoke 
to  heaven,  and  shivering  households  gather  about  the 
black  hole  that  does  duty  for  the  fireside  of  old,  the 
lung  microbe    wriggles   joyfully    into    his  appointed 


Organism  of  the  Ho7ise,  67 

place,  and  the  host  that  ride  on  the  blast  of  sewer  gas, 
and  inhabit  the  cellar  and  the  drain,  make  ready  for 
the  winter  campaign.  If  the  victim  will  not  make  war 
upon  them,  how  shall  they  who  dwell  beyond  their 
jurisdiction,  and  know  them  only  b)^  name  ? 

The  three  essentials  of  all  ventilation  can  be  summed 
up  in  a  few  words. 

1.  To  provide  an  abundance  of  pure  air  in  all  parts 
of  the  house. 

2.  To  avoid  draughts,  either  hot  or  cold. 

3.  To  provide  means  of  escape  for  all  foul  air  and 
odors. 

At  all  points  in  the  consideration  of  these  questions 
the  student  is  referred  to  the  small  manual  on  Home 
Sanitation  prepared  by  the  Sanitary  Science  section  of 
the  Collegiate  Alumnae,  and  so  simple  and  clear  that 
failure  to  comprehend  is  impossible. 

A  wise  man  in  Boston  has  invented  an  air  tester, 
which  gives  the  percentage  of  foul  air,  otherwise  car- 
bonic acid  gas,  but  it  is  not  yet  perfected  and  its  cost 
is  too  great  for  ordinary  uses.  In  the  meantime,  our 
ventilation,  public  and  private,  is  a  farce  which  also 
includes  a  tragedy.  In  the  magnificent  buildings  of 
the  new  Inns  of  Court  in  London,  judges  and  jury  at 
their  first  occupancy  of  the  court-rooms  grew  faint  for 
want  of  air  and  an  adjournment  had  to  be  taken, 
because  the  construction  of  the  chambers  was  such  that 
fresh  air  was  forbidden  entrance ;  nor  could  these 
chambers  be  used  until  alterations  had  been  made  to 
admit  the  air.  New  York's  famous  five-million-dollar 
court-house  is  similarly  faulty  in  its  construction,  with 
the  result  that  several  judges  have  died  as  a  result  of 
diseases  caused  by  its  lack  of  rational  ventilation,  and 
men  who  have  mounted  the  bench  with  strong  and 


68  Household  Eco7iomics. 

robust  constitutions  have  been  made  invalids  for  a 
large  part  of  the  year.  A  protracted  trial  in  one  of 
these  court-rooms  is  generall}^  followed  by  an  epidemic 
of  sickness  among  judges,  lawyers,  jurymen,  clerks,  and 
reporters,  obliged  by  their  duties  to  breathe  such 
pollution  from  morning  to  night  day  after  day  for  weeks. 

Often  when  a  ventilating  system  is  introduced  into 
one  of  these  great  public  buildings  it  fails  to  work,  or 
the  occupants  plug  up  the  apertures  for  fear  of  a  draught. 
The  draught  fiend  is  found  in  every  audience,  which 
stifles  and  chokes  because  the  fiend  has  an  idea  that  air 
on  the  back  of  the  neck  is  as  fatal  as  air  on  the  front 
of  the  neck  is  harmless,  and  calls  for  closed  v/indows, 
reckless  of  other  people's  feelings  and  opinions,  to  say 
nothing  of  their  health. 

The  study  of  systems  of  ventilation  is  a  vital  part  of 
any  course  in  Household  Economics,  but  in  our  limited 
space  I  can  only  speak  of  one  or  two  practical  forms, 
referring  students  to  expert  treatises  on  the  subject  for 
further  and  detailed  knowledge. 

We  know  that  fire  in  every  form,  from  furnace  to  gas 
jet  or  lamp,  feeds  upon  oxygen,  and  that  where  these 
forms  of  fire  are  busy  satisfying  themselves  with  our 
store  of  food,  we  must  ourselves  either  starve  or  furnish 
a  double  supply.  There  is  but  one  method  warranted 
to  work  infallibly,  and  that  is  a  warm-air  flue,  the 
upward  heated  current  of  which  draws  off  the  foul 
gases  from  the  room.  This,  supplemented  by  an  open- 
ing on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room  for  the  admission 
of  pure  air,  will  accomplish  the  desired  end.  An  open 
fireplace  also  accomplishes  this  so  long  as  fire  is  burn- 
ing and  a  draught  created.  The  simplest  plan  is  to 
have  ample  openings  from  eight  to  twelve  inches  square 
at  the  top  and  bottom  of  each  room,  opening  into  the 


Organism  of  the  House.  69 

chimney  flue.  In  this  case,  even  if  stoves  are  used, 
the  flue  can  be  kept  heated  by  the  extension  of  the 
stovepipe  some  distance  up  the  chimney,  and  the 
ascending  current  of  hot  air  will  draw  the  foul  air  from 
the  room  into  the  flue.  This,  as  before  said,  must  be 
completed  by  a  fresh-air  opening  into  the  room  on  the 
other  side.  If  no  other  can  be  had,  the  top  of  the  win- 
dow may  be  lowered  a  trifle,  or  a  board  the  precise 
width  of  the  sash  and  four  or  five  inches  high  may  be 
used.  Raise  the  lower  sash,  put  this  board  under  it, 
and  an  upward  current  of  air  will  be  created  which  will 
do  much  to  purify  the  room.  In  the  ordinary  house, 
the  direct  action  of  heat  on  the  air  itself  is  the  venti- 
lating power.  In  hospitals,  theatres,  and  other  large 
buildings,  fresh  air  must  be  forced  in  by  a  steam-engine 
or  electric  motor  and  foul  air  drawn  out  in  the  same 
way.  But  remember  that  the  popular  notion  most 
people  hold,  that  air  will  rise  simply  because  it  is  hot, 
has  been  proved  to  be  as  untrue  as  the  ' '  night-air ' ' 
fallacy.  Hot  air  rises  because  it  is  lighter  than  the 
cold  air  around  it,  just  as  a  cork  rises  and  floats  in  the 
water.  As  air  heats  it  expands  and  the  warm  air  tends 
to  displace  the  cold-air,  which,  being  heavier,  glides 
under  it  and  drives  it  upwards.  It  is  to  this  end  that 
we  attach  a  cold-air  box  to  the  furnace,  so  that  cold 
air  outside  the  house  can  pass  through  it  and  drive 
that  which  is  heated  upward  through  the  house.  This 
warmed  air  accumulates  in  the  top  of  the  room,  but 
does  not  change  as  quickly  as  that  near  the  floor  ;  hence 
the  need  of  the  devices  mentioned  for  changing  it.  In 
some  flues  a  gas  jet  is  kept  burning  to  warm  them  to 
the  necessary  point,  or  the  waste  heat  of  another  chim- 
ney is  utilized.  A  mere  ventilating  shaft  will  not 
ventilate.     It  requires  heat  to  produce   a  draft,  and 


70  Household  Economics, 

where  a  strong  one  is  required  for  a  very  hot  fire,  as  in 
furnaces  for  manufacturing  purposes,  very  tall  chimneys 
are  essential. 

The  best  mechanical  ventilator  is  the  globe  venti- 
lator, simple  and  ingenious  and  designed  to  overcome 
the  effects  of  winds  which  may  blow  in  such  a  wa^-  as 
to  drive  back  the  rising  column  of  heated  air. 

But  in  the  ordinary  dwelling-house  there  will  usually 
have  to  be  much  reliance  on  windows  as  aids,  and  in 
much  occupied  rooms  when  their  opening  becomes 
necessary  a  screen  can  always  be  used  to  shut  off  direct 
draught  if  there  is  fear  of  it. 

We  must  remember,  too,  in  connection  with  ventila- 
tion, that  any  causes  producing  foul  air  must  not  be 
allowed  to  continue  for  a  moment.  A  vase  of  neglected, 
decaying  flowers  will  poison  the  air  of  a  whole  room. 
A  decaying  head  of  cabbage  in  cellar  or  area  way,  a 
basket  of  refuse  vegetables,  a  collection  of  old  scrub- 
bing cloths,  a  foul  garbage  pail  or  box, — all  these  mean 
disease. 

Air  and  sunlight  must  search  every  comer  of  the 
house,  and  as  nearly  spotless  cleanliness  as  may  be,  be 
the  law.  Without  these  first  essentials  of  all  life,  con- 
stant slow  murder  will  continue  to  go  on,  not  only  in 
our  nurseries,  but  also  in  our  public  schools,  whose 
ventilation,  as  a  rule,  is  not  much  better  than  that  of 
the  '  *  Black  Hole ' '  of  Calcutta.  In  factories  and 
workshops,  we  are  equally  guilty, — and  white-faced, 
nerveless  children  grow  into  white-faced,  nerveless 
men  and  women,  the  vicious  circle  repeating  itself 
unchangingly. 

Heating  and  ventilation  are  so  conjoined,  especially 
in  northern  climates,  that  the  treatment  of  the  one  natu- 
rally includes  the  other  ;  but  we  can  merely  mention  a 


Organism  of  the  House,  71 

few  facts  as  to  the  best  methods  of  heating.  As  a  rule, 
we  overheat  our  liouses  to  a  frightful  degree,  and  we 
need  first  and  most  of  all  to  guard  against  this  ten- 
dency. At  present,  even  with  their  varied  "  improve- 
ments," the  types  of  hot-air  furnaces  in  use  are  all  open 
to  objections.  A  furnace  is  not  the  mystery  the  young 
housekeeper  often  considers  it.  It  is  only  a  large 
stove,  standing  in  an  enclosed  air  chamber.  This  en- 
closing is  best  if  of  brick,  but  can  be  galvanized  iron. 
A  cold- air  box  connects  this  chamber  with  the  outside 
air,  and  the  air  from  this  ought  to  pass  at  least  once 
around  the  furnace  before  entering  the  hot-air  pipes. 

* '  Burnt  air, ' '  against  which  the  intelligent  physician 
warns  patients,  is  that  sent  out  by  a  small  volume  of 
highly  heated  air  such  as  the  cheap  small  furnaces  fur- 
nish. The  furnace  and  all  its  equipments  of  cold-air 
box  etc.,  should  be  large  enough  to  supply  the  rooms 
with  a  large  volume  of  air  warmed  to  a  temperature 
not  exceeding  120°  F.  ;  such  a  volume  will  keep  the 
house  at  from  65°  to  70°  easily.  Hot  water  and  steam- 
coil  furnaces  give  a  better  heat  than  the  old-fashioned 
hot-air  ones  ;  but  even  these,  with  water-pan  always 
full,  cold-air  box  opening  on  out-of  doors,  and  a  properly 
tended  fire,  give  results  not  to  be  dreaded.  Seventy 
degrees  should  be  the  maximum  temperature  of  a 
room,  and  if  the  entire  house  could  be  evenly  kept  at 
65°,  people  would  be  far  healthier  than  they  are 
at  higher  degrees.  The  chief  advantage  of  a  tempera- 
ture at  70°  is  that  it  can  contain  more  moisture  than  a 
lower  one.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  old,  who  re- 
quire more  heat  than  the  young,  should  not  obtain  it 
by  wearing  more  clothing  instead  of  roasting  the  re- 
mainder of  the  household.  Houses  kept  at  from  80°  to 
90°  mean  simply  slow  murder  or  suicide  for  all  within 


72  Household  Economics, 

their  walls,  and  as  in  most  cases  children  are  quite  at 
the  mercy  of  their  elders'  tastes  and  habits,  our  national 
disease  of  catarrh  is  easily  explained.  From  85°  within 
to  perhaps  30°  below  without,  as  in  Minnesota  or  Wis- 
consin, would  give  catarrh  to  a  hippopotamus  or  an 
ichthyosaurus. 

If  hot-air  registers  are  set  in  the  house,  remember 
that  they  must  always  be  placed  in  the  partitions  of 
the  rooms  if  possible.  If  they  are  in  the  floor,  dust  is 
constantly  swept  into  them  ;  the  carpets,  if  you  have 
carpets,  must  all  be  cut ;  people  vv^ill  stand  over  them 
and  take  the  most  debilitating  kind  of  warm  bath.  A 
decided  advantage  also  of  partition  registers  is  that  the 
heat  is  by  them  diffused  more  evenly  through  the  room, 
and  there  is  less  waste  through  the  ventilating  aper- 
tures. Registers  can  never  be  beautiful,  but  wall 
registers  are  less  harmful  than  floor  registers. 

Gas  is  at  no  time  a  perfect  heating  medium,  since 
active  currents  of  air  put  it  out.  Gas  or  oil  should 
only  be  employed  for  very  temporary  heating,  as  in  a 
bath-room,  and  an  airing  of  the  room  looked  to  when 
the  fire  is  put  out.  Natural  gas,  so  extensively  used 
for  this  purpose  where  it  is  found,  has  all  the  advan- 
tages of  ease  of  handling,  cleanliness,  and  efficiency  ; 
but  those  who  use  it  literally  dry  up,  there  being  no 
way  of  using  water-pan  or  otherwise  lessening  the  dry- 
ing quality  of  this  sort  of  heat.  Electricity  is  the 
agent  to  which  we  are  to  look  as  the  coming  heating 
power, — and  if  Mr.  Tesla's  experiments  succeed,  we 
shall  in  good  time  be  able  to  use  it  as  freely  as  water. 
In  the  meantime,  it  is  already  making  its  way  in  com- 
petition with  gas,  and  has  already  been  applied  to 
ranges  and  cooking  utensils,  the  Electric  Kitchen  at 
the  Chicago  Fair  opening  up  a  future  in  which  coal 


Organism  of  the  House,  J2> 

and  ashes  and  smutty  pots  and  pans  make  their  exit 
all  together. 

In  the  larger  study  of  these  questions,  the  best  forms 
of  fuel,  their  relative  value  and  cost,  and  the  modes  of 
employing  them,  all  have  place  ;  but  all  I  can  do  now 
is  to  refer  for  details  to  Chapter  V.  of  The  Easiest 
Way  171  Housekeeping  and  Cooking. 

The  matter  of  lighting  really  precedes  heating  ;  in 
fact,  belongs  to  each  of  the  heads  we  treat  here,  since  at 
every  stage  we  must  have  light  as  an  active  help  in  all 
cleaning  processes,  and  so  arrange  that  all  plumbing 
may  receive  it. 

Natural  light,  otherwise  sunshine,  is  tonic  and  dis- 
infectant in  one,  and  the  sun-bath  ought  to  be  a  possi- 
bility for  every  house.  The  best  hospitals  have  now  a 
solarium  on  the  roof,  and  not  only  are  delicate  patients 
strengthened,  but  it  has  been  found  both  quieting  and 
healing  in  all  forms  of  nervous  diseases.  Delicate 
children  are  made  over  by  this  treatment,  and  more 
and  more  wise  physicians  are  disposed  to  banish  arti- 
ficial heat  as  much  as  possible  and  to  use  sunshine  as  a 
formal  prescription. 

The  artificial-light  habit  grows  with  civilization, 
and  a  fashionable  luncheon  shuts  out  sunlight,  which 
is  a  keen  detective  and  less  friendly  to  rouge  and 
powder  than  are  shaded  candles.  The  softly-diffused 
electric  light  promised  us  by  Tesla  will  be  almost  as 
pervading  as  sunlight,  but  the  electric  light  as  we  have 
it  at  present  is  hard  in  quality  and  trying  to  the  eyes 
as  well  as  to  dress  and  complexion.  Its  best  use  is  as 
policeman,  since  its  adoption  in  our  great  cities  has 
lessened  crime  to  a  considerable  extent  and  made  some 
forms  of  it  impossible.  The  cost  of  the  electric  light 
makes  it  at  present  impracticable  for  average  houses, 


74  Household  Economics, 

which  must  still  use  gas  or  oil  lamps.  The  uncertain 
flickering  flame  of  the  first  is  bad  for  the  eyes,  and 
either  argand  burner  or  porcelain  shade  should  be  used 
as  protection.  The  steady  light  of  a  student  lamp  is 
best  for  all  who  must  use  the  eyes  hours  at  a  time ; 
next  best  are  the  Rochester  and  other  like  forms,  any 
of  them  preferable  in  quality  of  light  to  gas,  although 
the  heat  they  throw  out  is  at  times  very  disagreeable. 

I^amps  require  constant  care  in  proper  filling  and 
trimming  of  the  wicks,  but  they  repay  the  trouble  in 
the  improved  steadiness  of  the  light.  Only  the  best 
oil  should  be  used.  The  crust  on  the  burned  wicks 
should  be  carefully  rubbed  off"  instead  of  cut,  or  if  cut- 
ting is  necessary,  the  corners  of  straight  wicks  should 
be  a  little  rounded  up  to  the  centre.  At  intervals  in 
the  year,  the  parts  of  the  burner  which  carry  the  wick 
should  be  boiled  in  strong  soda  water,  the  only  thing 
that  destroys  the  rank  smell  of  the  old  oil.  A  lesson 
in  lamp  filling  and  cleaning  is  part  of  any  course  in 
domestic  training,  and  in  our  cities  experts  now  go 
from  house  to  house,  as  only  experts  can  deal  with  the 
finer  order  of  lamps  now  in  use. 

We  come  now  to  the  next  most  vital  portion  of  the 
organism  of  the  house,  its  actual  circulatory  and  excre- 
tory system, — the  water  service,  on  which  something 
more  than  mere  individual  health  depends.  The  small 
boy  who  roars  as  his  face  is  washed  simply  voices  an 
objection,  no  less  tangible  because  it  is  a  silent  one,  of 
the  great  mass  of  the  people.  ''  The  great  unwashed  " 
as  a  descriptive  term  belongs,  unhappily,  to  many 
other  classes  than  the  lower  laboring  class  ;  in  what  is 
known  as  good  society  we  have  often  very  evident 
demonstration  that  the  best  uses  of  water  are  practi- 
cally unknown.     I  have  been  in  New  England  farm- 


Organism  of  the  House,  75 

houses  where  the  only  facilities  for  washing  for  the 
entire  family  were  limited  to.  the  kitchen  sink,  some 
soft  soap,  and  a  roller  towel, — a  square  of  looking-glass 
above  and  a  family  comb  completing  the  toilet  con- 
veniences. Baths  in  any  perfect  form  are  a  product  of 
high  civilization,  and  with  a  system  of  baths  must  be 
also  a  system  for  the  removal  of  waste  water.  In  the 
isolated  farm-house,  built  on  the  cheapest  plan,  both 
water  supply  and  drainage  fare  as  best  they  can,  and 
the  intelligent  farmer's  wife  who  reads  what  science 
has  to  say  as  to  the  causes  of  typhoid  fever  and  diph- 
theria, looks  with  terror  at  her  own  drains  and  wonders 
what  can  be  done  about  it.  For  most  women,  however, 
there  is  not  only  ignorance,  but  also  a  feeling  that 
plumbing  is  something  about  which  it  is  quite  unrea- 
sonable to  expect  them  to  be  informed.  Even  vvhen 
the  theory  of  sanitation  is  understood,  the  details  are 
ignored.  Take  as  an  illustration  the  case  quoted  by 
Mrs.  Plunkett,  the  well  known  authority  who  edits 
the  Sanitary  Department  for  the  hidependent  of  New 
York,  and  whose  book,  Women,  Plumbers,  and  Doctors^ 
is  one  of  the  best  sanitary  hand-books  in  existence.  It 
is  the  tale  of  a  devoted  wife  and  mother  whose  husband 
v/as  recovering  from  an  onset  of  consumption,  and  who 
had  been  sickening  for  just  the  right  sort  of  house 
into  which  to  move.  She  had  found  it — a  corner  house, 
every  room  light,  high,  and  airy,  with  open  fireplace 
and  transom  for  each,  and  no  ''set  bowls."  She  had 
studied  the  complicated  piping  of  the  house,  felt 
certain  that  every  trap  was  ventilated,  and,  as  she 
gave  her  triumphant  account,  ended  with:  "And 
the  gentleman  said  the  cellar  was  all  right,  —  I 
mean  as  to  the  drain-pipes  and  the  furnace  and  all  that ; 
and  so  I  suppose  it  is.     She  had  seen  that  there  were 


76  Household  Economics, 

stationary  tubs  in  the  basement  laundry.  Beyond  that 
point  she  did  not  go,  and  why  ?  Because  she  had  grown 
up  in  the  behef  that  the  care  of  the  cellar  belonged 
naturally  to  the  men  of  the  household.  She  would  as 
soon  have  thought  of  mastering  the  mechanism  of  the 
engine  in  her  husband's  factory,  as  of  studying  the 
proper  construction  of  a  foundation  wall  or  cellar  bot- 
tom or  a  cold-air  box, — and  as  it  happened  each  one 
of  these  items  was  in  a  dangerous!}^  defective  condition. 

Now  any  genuine  study  of  plumbing  means  books, 
and  not  such  books  as  can  be  read  in  an  hour  ;  but 
there  are  certain  fixed  principles  which  make  the  foun- 
dation of  all  sanitary  science, — a  science,  by  the  way, 
purely  modern,  and  which  in  our  own  country  began 
where  many  other  good  things  have  begun, — in  Massa- 
chusetts, with  the  work  done  in  1871  b}^  the  Massachu- 
setts Board  of  Health,  headed  by  the  famous  physician 
Dr.  Geo.  Derb^-.  He  and  his  associates  made  exhaus- 
tive examination  of  localities  where  epidemics  of  fever 
and  diphtheria  had  raged,  and  where  consumption  had 
been  most  fatal,  taking  house  by  house,  and  finding  in 
every  case  that  bad  drainage  and  bad  water-supply 
were  the  chief  causes  of  these  diseases. 

The  story  of  these  houses  is  one  of  terrible  interest, 
and  the  summary  of  the  work  of  this  Board  for  twenty- 
five  years  is  of  the  same  order  as  that  given  by  Dr.  B. 
W.  Richardson,  the  famous  President  of  the  British 
Medical  Association,  who  wrote  ten  years  and  more  ago  : 

"  I  am  forced  by  experience  to  the  conclusion  that  the  whole 
future  progress  of  the  sanitary  movement  rests  for  permanent 
and  executive  support  on  the  women  of  the  country.  The  men 
of  the  house  come  and  go  ;  know  little  of  the  ins  and  outs  of 
anything  domestic  ;  are  guided  by  what  they  are  told  and  are 
practically  of  no  assistance  whatever.  The  women  are  presuma- 


Organism  of  the  House.  77 

bly  conversant  with  every  nook  of  the  house  from  basement 
to  roof,  and  on  their  knowledge,  wisdom,  and  skill  the  physician 
rests  his  hopes.  How  important,  then,  how  vital,  that  they 
should  learn,  as  part  of  their  earliest  duties,  the  choicest  sani- 
tary code." 

Furnaces  being  practically  unknov^n  in  English 
houses  and  elaborate  water-service  belonging  only  to 
the  better  order  of  houses,  English  women  have  not  the 
responsibility  of  the  American  woman,  on  whom  double 
duty  has  alwaj^s  fallen. 

Sanitary  engineering  is  a  new  profession,  and  sanitary 
engineers  are  by  no  means  sufficient  in  number  to  give 
us  a  competent  inspector  of  plumbing  for  every  town. 
The  time  is  coming  when  he  will  be  as  mtich  an  essen- 
tial in  planning  the  house  as  is  the  architect,  but  even 
with  such  expert  service,  it  is  still  women  who  must 
listen  and  learn. 

For  all  houses,  whether  in  the  city  or  country,  there 
are  six  problems  which  the  householder  must  solve, 
and  these  are  ranged  in  order  by  Col.  George  E.  Waring, 
our  highest  authority  as  sanitary  engineer,  and  author 
of  The  Sanitary  Drainage  of  Honses  and  Towns. 

I. — To  secure  his  house  against  excessive  damp  in  its 
walls,  in  its  cellar,  and,  where  practicable,  in  its  sur- 
rounding atmosphere. 

2. — To  provide  for  the  perfect  and  instant  removal 
of  fluid  or  semi-fluid  organic  wastes. 

3. — To  provide  a  sufficient  supply  of  pure  water  for 
domestic  uses. 

4. — To  guard  against  the  evils  arising  from  the  de- 
composition of  organic  matter  in  or  under  the  house. 

5. — To  remove  all  sources  of  offence  and  danger  which 
may  affect  the  atmosphere  about  the  house. 

6. — (And  almost  more  important  than  all  the  rest) 


78  Household  Economics, 

To  prevent  the  insidious  entrance  into  the  house, 
through  communications  with  the  sewer,  cesspool,  or 
vault,  of  poisonous  gases  resulting  from  the  decom- 
position of  the  refuse  of  his  own  household,  or  of  other 
households  with  which  a  common  sewer  or  drain  may 
bring  him  into  communication. 

We  will  take  it  for  granted  that  the  best  possible  lo- 
cation has  been  chosen.  If  imperative  circumstances 
force  a  man  to  choose  a  site,  the  soil  of  w^hich  is  damp, 
his  wife  can  always  insist  on  the  cheap  and  efiScient 
remedy  of  subsoil  drainage,  and  there  are  books, — Col- 
onel Waring' s  for  instance,  or  the  little  manual  already 
referred  to,  on  House  Sanitation,  which  give  simple,  plain 
instructions  as  to  the  minutest  details,  so  that  a  man  to 
this  extent  can  even  be  his  own  sanitarj^  engineer. 
With  well-built  foundation  and  drain-pipes  crossing  the 
cellar  at  intervals  of  not  more  than  fifteen  feet,  the 
smallest  land-drain  tile  being  large  enough,  and  so  laid 
that  there  is  a  slight  but  continuous  fall  toward  the 
outlet,  drainage  is  at  once  secured.  Earth  is  to  be  well 
rammed  over  them,  and  the  w^hole  cellar  floor  covered 
with  concrete. 

If  this  is  essential  for  the  country,  it  is  no  less  so  for 
the  town  with  its  filled-in  spaces  and  made  land,  with 
its  strata  of  dead  cats  and  tomato  cans,  old  boots,  coal 
ashes,  and  garbage  of  all  kinds.  Against  the  witch's 
broth  into  which  any  standing  water  would  turn  this 
arrangement  of  material,  only  a  coat  of  the  best  asphalt 
over  the  concrete  will  aff"ord  protection,  even  in  degree. 
In  European  houses  of  the  better  order  this  coat  of  as- 
phalt is  now  taken  for  granted  as  a  necessary  precaution. 

This  provided  for,  next  comes  the  water  supply. 
Rain  water  is,  of  course,  the  purest  type,  but  as  we 
cannot  take  it  direct  from  the  clouds,  we  have  to  ac- 


Organism  of  the  House,  79 

cept  what  we  get  in  our  cisterns,  to  which  rain  water  is 
conducted  by  pipes  leading  from  the  roof.  The  water 
must  thus,  unless  a  leader  is  used  to  run  off  the  first 
rush,  take  up  all  the  dust,  soot,  and  other  impurities, 
and  requires  filtering.  The  best  cistern  will  include  a 
filter  of  some  sort,  and  this  is  accomplished  in  two 
waj^s.  Hither  the  cistern  is  divided  into  two  parts, 
the  water  being  received  on  one  side  and  allowed  to 
slowly  filter  through  a  wall  of  porous  brick, — or  a  di- 
vision is  made  into  upper  and  lower  compartments,  the 
upper  one  containing  the  usual  filter  of  iron,  charcoal, 
sponge,  and  gravel  or  sand.  Distilled  water  and  rain 
water  both  have  the  property  of  taking  up  and  dissolv- 
ing lead  wherever  they  find  it,  and  it  is  for  this  reason 
that  lead  pipes,  as  leaders  from  or  to  cisterns,  should 
under  no  circumstances  be  allowed,  unless  the  lead  is 
lined  with  some  other  material. 

Well  water  comes  next,  the  usual  supply  for  drink- 
ing in  the  village  home,  and  with  this  source  there  are 
a  series  of  dangers  to  be  avoided.  If  a  well  be  shallow 
and  fed  by  surface  springs,  all  the  impurities  of  the  soil 
will  be  found  in  it.  "A  well  drains,"  writes  Dr.  Parker, 
an  English  sanitary  expert,  "an  extent  of  ground 
about  it  in  the  shape  of  an  inverted  cone  which  is  in 
proportion  to  its  own  depth  and  the  looseness  of  the 
soil.  In  very  loose  soils,  a  well  of  sixty  or  eighty  feet 
will  drain  a  large  area,  perhaps  as  much  as  two  hun- 
dred feet  in  diameter,  or  even  more. 

The  refuse  from  certain  manufacturing  and  other 
industries  is  often  poured  into  our  rivers  :  gas-works, 
slaughter-houses,  starch-works,  and  the  like.  In  houses, 
it  is  astonishing  how  many  instances  occur  of  the  water 
of  cisterns  and  tanks  getting  contaminated  by  the  leak- 
age of  pipes  and  other  causes,  such  as  the  passage  of 


8o  Household  Economics, 

vsewage  through  overflow  pipes.  As  we  now  know  that 
typhoid  fever,  dysentery,  and  cholera  are  caused  by 
water  rendered  impure  by  emanations  from  the  evacua- 
tions in  these  diseases,  it  is  plain  how  necessary  it  is  to 
be  quick-sighted  in  regard  to  the  possible  impurity  of 
water  from  incidental  causes  of  this  kind.  All  tanks 
and  cisterns  should  be  inspected  regularly.  Wells 
should  be  covered,  a  good  coping  put  around  the  open- 
ing to  prevent  substances  being  washed  down  from  the 
surface ;  the  distances  from  cesspools  and  dung-heaps 
should  be  carefully  noted  ;  no  vsewer  should  be  allowed 
to  pass  near  a  well,  and  no  well  near  which  a  sewer 
passes  should  be  used. 

Suppose  all  such  precautions  have  been  disregarded. 
Suppose,  as  is  usual  that  the  well  is  dug  near  the 
kitchen  door — probably  between  kitchen  and  barn, — 
the  drain,  if  there  is  a  drain,  from  the  kitchen  pouring 
out  the  dirty  water  of  wash-day  and  all  other  days, 
which  sinks  through  the  ground  and  acts  as  feeder  to 
the  waiting  well.  Suppose  the  manure  heap  in  the 
barnyard  also  sends  down  its  supply,  and  the  privies 
contribute  theirs.  The  water  may  be — as  repeated 
analyses  have  proved  such  water  to  be — unchanged  in 
color  or  odor,  yet  none  the  less  you  drink  a  foul  and 
horrible  poison  when  you  drink  it ;  slow  in  action  it  is 
true,  but  making  every  fibre  in  you  ready  for  diphtheria, 
and  typhus,  and  consumption.  I  could  give  you  a  hun- 
dred illustrations,  but  time  forbids.  The  sum  of  all 
sanitation  for  the  village  or  the  isolated  home  is  in  this  : 
See  that  no  open  cesspool  or  drain  poisons  either  air 
or  water  about  the  house.  Sunk  at  a  proper  distance 
from  it,  and  connected  with  it  by  a  drain  so  tightly  put 
together  that  none  of  the  contents  can  escape,  the  cess- 
pool, which  maj^  be  an  elaborate  brick -lined  cistern,  or 


Organism  of  the  House,  8 1 

merely  an  old  hogshead  tarred  outside  and  in,  and  sunk 
in  the  ground,  becomes  one  of  the  most  important  ad- 
juncts of  a  good  garden,  and  if  used  in  wetting  the 
compost  heap,  helps  to  fulfil  one  of  the  great  agricul- 
tural duties  of  man,  which  Liebig  tells  us  is  "  returning 
to  the  soil  as  fertilizers  all  the  salts  produced  by  the 
combustion  of  food  in  the  human  body.  " 

This  is  the  law  for  water  as  used  from  w^ells  and  cis- 
terns or  springs,  and  its  general  principles  apply  equally 
to  the  great  reservoir  from  which  a  city  or  town  draws 
its  supply.  Here  the  individual  is  often  almost  help- 
less, the  cit}^  allowing  sewers  to  be  made  by  contractors 
who  scamp  the  work  at  every  point,  and  who  have 
been  known  to  let  a  drain  run  up-hill,  rather  than  pay 
the  cost  of  blasting  out  the  intervening  rock.  Settling 
walls  of  hastily-built  houses  often  dislocate  pipes,  the 
disconnection  being  very  generally  at  the  junction  of 
the  soil  pipe  and  the  drain  ;  the  filthy  soakage  infect- 
ing the  soil  nearest  the  wall  of  the  house.  All  this 
evil  means  the  necessity  for  rigid  inspection,  and  the 
utter  abolition  of  cheap  building  and  cheap  sewerage. 
Good  plumbing  is  not  and  never  can  be  cheap,  and 
that  fact  must  be  taken  for  granted  in  building.  A 
poor  plumber,  or  a  mean  contractor  who  compels  poor 
plumbing,  will  often  finish  a  joint  which  needs  abso- 
lute accuracy  of  fit  and  tightness  with  a  solder  so  poor 
and  so  stinted  in  amount  that  the  joining  speedily  parts, 
the  overflow  sinks  into  the  soil,  and  sickness  sooner  or 
later  follows. 

The  testing  of  joints  for  any  possible  defect  in  the 
pipes  (and  even  a  pin-hole  means  defect  and  the  escape 
of  poisoned  air  or  water),  is  usually  done  with  oil  of 
peppermint.  This  is  so  penetrating  in  quality  that,  as 
it  makes  its  way  down  through  the  pipes, — for  it  must 


6 


\5X0'h 


82  Household  Econo7nics, 

be  poured  in  from  above, — the  faintest  suspicion  of 
hole  or  crack  allows  the  familiar  odor  to  escape  and 
shows  where  solder  is  needed. 

Perfect  plumbing,  even  of  the  simplest  order,  requires 
such  careful  fitting  of  pipes,  preparator}'  to  soldering, 
that  it  is  often  necessary  to  bend,  cut,  measure,  and  clip 
them  not  less  than  a  dozen  times.  In  a  bath-room 
with  four  fixtures,  I  have  seen  forty-seven  joints  above 
the  floor,  and  even  more  were  beneath  to  complete  all 
connections  with  the  waste  pipes.  A  supply  pipe,  a 
waste  pipe,  a  ventilating  pipe,  and  a  safe  waste  were 
part  of  each  fixture,  and  to  make  one  union  on  each 
required  sixteen  joints. 

The  rule  now  followed  by  the  best  sanitary  engineers 
is,  after  full  inspection  of  the  work  done,  to  draw  a 
diagram  of  the  completed  piping,  w^ith  full  and  plain 
directions  as  to  which  faucet  to  turn  in  case  this  or  that 
pipe  should  burst,  and  which  not  to  touch  under  any 
circumstances.  This  is  placed  back  to  back  with  the 
certificate  in  a  double-glassed  frame  and  hung  in  an  in- 
stantly accessible  place, — being  the  final  touch  in  ideal 
sanitary  plumbing,  such  as  we  shall  all  presently 
learn  how  to  oversee.  In  this  ideal  plumbing,  at- 
tained only  here  and  there,  every  pipe  should  be  in 
sight,  and  in  the  cellar  where  they  have  their  exits  and 
their  entrances,  each  set  should  be  painted  a  different 
color,  to  make  attention  to  the  needs  of  each  easy  and 
certain. 

To  understand  these  needs  involves  study,  and  sani- 
tation has  now  in  this  country  admirable  monthly 
organs  and  a  flood  of  special  literature  on  all  points 
involved.  The  reports  of  all  the  various  State  Boards 
of  Health  contain  the  latest  and  most  scientific  presen- 
tations of  facts  ;  the  technical  departments  of  colleges 


07'ganism  of  the  House,  83 

and  universities  and  special  colleges  for  technical  train- 
ing— notabl}-  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School, — have  a 
comprehensive  course  of  lectures  on  sanitation,  such  as 
will  make  part  of  the  work  to  be  done  here  in  the  future. 
In  the  meantime,  the  careful  reading  of  a  very  few  au- 
thorities, indeed,  of  one  alone — either  Colonel  Waring's 
or  Mrs.  Plunkett's  book, — will  give  all  the  absolutely 
necessary  knowledge  on  this  point ;  and  this  knowledge 
is  one  which  belongs  to  the  new  school  of  preventive 
medical  treatment,  compels  better  public  methods,  and 
lengthens  life  for  all.  Public  sanitation  is  part  of  the 
natural  work  of  women  ;  it  should  and  must  be  a  vital 
part  of  their  education.  The  problems  it  includes  call  for 
the  widest  knowledge  and  the  most  thorough  training 
of  every  power  of  perception.  ' '  The  House  Beautiful, ' ' 
can  never  attain  its  full  ideal  until  its  great  circulatory 
system  is  made  perfect,  and  with  the  new  knowledge 
we  are  all  to  own,  it  will  be  beautiful  not  alone  for  the 
rich,  but  for  the  poor  as  well,  since  what  harms  one 
harms  all.  Progress  that  deserves  the  name  is  not  for 
the  individual  alone,  but  for  humanity  as  a  whole. 

rkfer:Encks. 

Our  Homes,  by  Dr.  Henry  Hartshome. 

Healthy  Houses,  by  Fleeming  Jenkin. 

Pettinkofifer  on  Air  in  Relation  to  Clothing,  Soil,  and  Dwell- 
ings. 

Dulce  Dontum  ;  or.  The  Plumber  and  Sanitary  Houses,  by 
S.  S.  Hellyer. 

Sanitary  Arrangements  for  Dwellings,  by  W.  Eassie. 

Annual  Reports  of  the  Massachusetts,  Michigan,  and  New 
Jersey  Boards  of  Health. 

The  Sanitarian  ;  a  Monthly  Magazine  of  Health. 

The  Plumber  and  Sanitary  Engineer;  a  Bi-weekly  Journal. 

The  Sanitary  Record,  Ivondon. 


84  Household  Economics, 

Defects  in  Plumbing  and  Drainage  Work,  by  Francis  Vacher. 
The  Easiest  Way,  by  Helen  Campbell.     Chaps.  II.  and  III. 
Leeds  on  Ventilation. 
Hygiene  in  the  Home,  by  J.  West  Roosevelt,  M.D.,   vol.   i.. 

Chap.  VII.  of  The  Woman's  Book. 
Hygiene  and  Public  Health,  edited  by  Albert  Buck,  M.D. 
Public  Health  Problems,  by  John  E.  I.  Sykes. 
The  Law  of  Public  Health  and  Safety,  by  Leroy  Parkes  and 

Robert  Worthington. 
Plumbing  Problems,  from  The  Sanitary  Engineer,  published 

by  Engineering  Record,  1892. 
House  Lighting  by  Electricity,  by  Angelo  Fahie. 
American  Plum,bing,  by  Alfred  Revill. 
Sanitary  Appliances  for  Buildings,  by  F.  Cloyer. 
The  Water  Meter,  by  W.  G.  Kent. 
Ventilation  and  Heating,  by  J.  S.  Billings,  M.D. 
A  Practical  Treatise  on  Foundations,  by  W.  M.  Patton. 
Sewage  Disposal,  by  George  B.  Waring,  Jr. 
Kitchen  Boiler  Connectiofts,  published  by  D.  Williams. 
Notes  on  the  Ventilation  and  Warming  of  Houses,  Churches, 

Schools,  and  Other  Buildings^  by  Ernest  H,  Jacob  (Manual 

of  Health  Series). 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  AND  REFERENCES. 

Our  Homes  and  How  to  Make  them  Healthy,  edited  by  Shirley 

Murphey,  Cassell  &  Co. 
How  to  Live,  or  Health  and  Healthy  Homes,  by  George  Wilson, 

M.D.,  P.  Blakiston  &  Sons. 
"  Principles  and  Practice  of  House  Drainage"  by  George  E. 

Waring,  Jr.,  articles  in  the  Century  Magazine  for  November 

and  December,  1884. 
The  Sanitary  Condition  of  Dwelling-Houses  in   Town  and 

Country,  by  George  E.  Waring,  Jr.,  Van  Nostrand  Science 

Series,  No.  31. 
The  Principles  of  House  Drainage,  by  J.  Pickering  Putnam. 
House  Drainage  and  Water  Service,  by  James  G.  Bayless. 
Hand-Book  of  Sanitary  Information  for  Hotiseholders,  by  Roger 

S.  Tracy,  M.D.,  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 


Organism  of  the  House,  85 

Healthy  Houses,  by  William  Eassie,  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

Air  and  its  Relations  to  Life,  by  W.  N.  Hartley,  D.  Appleton 

&Co. 
Water  Supply,    Chemical  and  Sanitary^   by  William  Ripley 

Nichols,  M.D.,  John  Wiley  &  Sons. 
Sanitary  Tracts,  issued  by  the  Citizens'   Sanitary  Society  of 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Sanitary  House  Inspection,  by  W.  P.  Gerhard. 
Drainage  and  Sewerage  of  Dwellings,  by  W.  P.  Gerhard. 
The  Drainage  of  Habitable  Dwellings,  by  W.  L.  Brandmore. 
Hoiv  to  Drai7i  a  House,  by  George  E.  Waring. 
The  Sanitary  Drainage  of  Houses  and  Towns^  by  George  B. 

Waring. 
The  Separate  System  of  Sewerage,  by  Staley  and  Pierson. 
Ventilation  and  Heating,  by  Dr.  John  S.  Bellamy. 
Women,  Plumbers,  and  Doctors,  by  Mrs.  H.  M.  Plunkett. 
Hygiene  and  Public  Health,  by  Louis  C.  Parkes,  M.D. 
Hygiene  and  Public  Health,  edited  by  A.  H.  Buck,  M.D. 
Practical  Hygiene,  by  E.  A.  Parkes,  M.  D, 
Hand-Book  of  Hygiene  and  Sanitary  Science,  by  George  Wilson. 
Hygie?ie,  by  A.  Newsholme,  M.D. 

The  American  Health  Primers,  edited  by  W.  W.  Keene,  M.D. 
Home  Sanitation,  edited  by  Ellen  H.  Richards  and  Marion 

Talbot. 
Home  Sanitation,  a  Manual  for  Housekeepers,  by  the  Sanitary 

Science  Club  of  the  Association  of  Collegiate  Alumnae. 
School-Room  Ventilation  as  an  Investment,  by  George  Henry 

Knight. 


CHAPTER  V. 

DECORATION. 

Use  and  Value  of  Decoration  in  Nature  and  Art ;  its  Laws  and 
Principles — Relation  to  Pictorial  Art — Evolution  and  His- 
tory— Special  Development  in  Races — Associate  Conditions 
in  Cause  and  Effect — Racial  Influences — Periods  —  Our 
Present  Level  ;  the  Highest,  the  Lowest,  the  Average — 
Masculine  and  Feminine  Decoration — "How  to  Make 
Home  Beautiful  "—The  Sense  of  Beauty  in  Women— 
"  Traces  of  a  Woman's  Hand  " — Survivals  of  Savagery — 
"Home-Made,"  "Ready-Made,"  "Born  and  Not  Made" 
— The  Power  of  the  Home-Maker — Educational  and  Moral 
Value  of  Truth  in  Art — Artistic  Sins  and  their  Moral  Coun- 
terparts— Homes,  Schools,  and  Prisons — Practical  Possibili- 
ties— "Often  in  a  Wooden  House  a  Golden  Room  You 
Find  " — Spiritual  Laws  in  Color— A  Rest  Room — National 
Importance  of  Elevation  in  Art. 

TO  understand  the  virtue  and  value  of  decoration 
in  the  house,  large  knowledge  is  required  of 
decoration  as  a  form  of  art  and  what  relation  it 
holds  to  humanity.  In  all  the  field  of  study  covered 
by  this  course,  we  are  hampered,  as  I  explained  in  the 
introduction,  by  preconceived  ideas  and  opinions,  often 
many  centuries  old.  In  this  particular  subject  there  is 
less  to  contend  with  than  in  some  others,  ignorance 
being  no  obstacle  at  all,  but  an  inviting  vacuum.  The 
principal  diflSculties  to  be  met  are  the  utilitarian  and 

86 


Decoration.  87 

the  ascetic.  Both  speak,  in  our  common  phrase, 
•'merely  for  decoration."  The  puritanic  objection  to 
gratifying  "  the  lusts  of  the  eye"  we  have  largely  out- 
grown ;  but  the  "  mereness  "  still  remains  to  us.  We 
still  look  on  decoration  as  an  agreeable  superfluity. 
While  this  misconception  exists,  we  shall  continue  to 
adorn  ourselves  and  our  belongings  with  things  super- 
fluous truly,  and  by  no  means  always  agreeable ; 
''trimmings"  of  all  sorts,  sewed  on,  pasted  on,  tacked 
on,  nailed  on,  glued  on, — appended  and  addended  in 
all  superflcial  ways  ;  incomplete  things  of  supposed 
beauty  added  to  complete  things  of  known  ugliness, 
"merely  for  decoration." 

In  vain  does  the  architect  implore  :  "  Decorate  con- 
struction ;  do  not  construct  decoration  !  "  We  con- 
tinue to  dismiss  the  whole  subject  as  a  light  one,  and 
while  we  have  much  that  is  "  merely  for  decoration," 
we  have  in  it  no  real  decoration  at  all. 

Do  we  know  what  it  means  "  to  decorate  "  ?  "  First : 
To  distinguish,  grace,  honor.  '  My  harte  was  fully 
sette,  and  my  minde  deliberately  determined  to  have 
decorated  this  realme  wyth  wholesome  laws,  statutes, 
and  ordinances.'  — Hall,  Edw.  IV.,  anno  1523."  In 
this  definition,  it  is  connected  directly  with  decorum, 
meaning,  of  all  things,  fitness,  propriety,  relation.  The 
very  essence  of  the  thought  implied  in  decoration  is 
relativity — that  which  belongs. 

This  idea  is  carried  out  in  our  further  and  special 
sense  of  decoration  as  the  conferring  of  a  mark  of  honor 
— "to  deco7'ate  an  artist  with  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor." 

The  secondary  use  of  the  word  :  *'  To  deck  with  some- 
thing becoming  or  ornamental  ;  adorn,  beautify,  embel- 
lish ;  as  to  decorate  the  person  ;  to  decorate  an  edifice  ' ' ; 


88  Household  Economics, 

or  "  a  grave  and  forcible  argument  decorated  with  most 
brilliant  wit  and  fancy"  (Macaulay's  Warren  Has- 
tings), rests  entirely  on  the  primal  idea  of  that  which 
belongs. 

With  this  in  mind,  follow  the  development  of  decora- 
tion in  nature  and  in  art.  Think  of  that  vast  field  of 
decoration  in  the  flower  and  again  of  the  varied  "  deco- 
rative appendages  "  and  markings  among  animals,  in 
which  there  is  never  any  contradiction  of  structural  and 
functional  necessity,  and  in  which  the  decoration 
itself  serves  a  higher  use, — higher  in  the  sense  of  being 
more  complex  and  not  so  immediate.  And  while  all 
this  painting  of  petals  serves  to  allure  and  direct  the 
winged  match-maker  ;  and  the  glories  of  peacock  and 
pheasant  serve  to  win  the  favor  of  their  consorts,  do 
not  think  of  all  this  beauty  as  so  much  bait,  but  as 
the  natural  outcome  of  deep  impulses  which  stir  the 
organism  to  a  demonstration  beyond  the  immediatel}' 
essential.  Think  of  the  beauty  as  the  outcome  of  pleas- 
ure and  of  love, — and  then  we  can  understand  the 
beginning  of  decorative  art  in  humanity.  The  energy 
that  made  tool,  weapon,  and  utensil  spent  itself  further 
on  their  decoration  ;  and  the  love  of  the  savage  for  his 
trusty  spear  is  the  same  decorative  impulse  as  that 
which  gems  the  hilt  of  a  good  sword  and  inlays  its 
scabbard  with  gold. 

The  savage  impulse  answers  to  its  own  rude  laws  ; 
but  with  the  growth  of  man  restraint  became  a  law,  in 
art  as  well  as  in  politics.  Principles  were  studied, 
laws  deduced,  and  limitations  recognized.  Conven- 
tionalization was  accepted  as  a  principle  of  decoration, 
— and  the  laws  of  repetition,  alternation,  symmetry, 
and  radiation  became  aids  in  intelligent  design.  What 
color  and  line  mean  to  the  mind  of  man  ;  and  how  to 


Decoration.  89 

convey  ideas  and  sentiments  through  their  use,  was 
now  the  study  of  the  worker,  and  man's  creations 
blossomed  into  beauty  as  naturally  as  those  of  God. 
Careful  and  extended  study  will  be  needed  here,  for 
this  subject  of  "  mere  decoration  "  is  one  of  the  most 
vital  in  household  economy. 

The  relation  of  decorative  to  pictorial  art  is  barely 
understood  in  most  minds,  and  it  demands  careful  ex- 
planation. One  distinction,  and  the  essential  one,  is 
that  decoration  is  part  of  something  and  a  picture  is  a 
thing  in  itself.  Whatever  line  and  color  is  used  in 
decoration  is  used  with  regard  to  the  surface,  substance, 
size,  shape,  and  use  of  the  object  to  be  decorated, — 
v/hile  the  picture  uses  line  and  color  to  convey  idea  or 
feeling  in  itself.  No  matter  how  simple  is  the  form  we 
draw,  meaning  it  to  speak  for  itself,  it  is  a  picture  ;  but 
that  form  painted  on  a  tea-cup,  stamped  on  calico,  or 
carved  on  a  cornice,  becomes  decoration,  and  must  be 
judged  as  such.  The  figures  of  men  and  women  on  a 
Greek  vase  are  used  decoratively  ;  the  immortal  sculp- 
ture of  the  Parthenon  frieze  is  "  mere  decoration,"  and 
every  line  conforms  to  its  use.  The  pictures  on  our 
walls  are  used  as  decoration,  and  in  that  sense,  they 
are  irregularly  placed  rectangles  of  varying  proportions 
and  disconnected  colors — about  as  poor  a  form  of 
decoration  as  could  be  imagined.  But  the  picture 
itself  in  its  pictorial  value  is  quite  another  matter  to 
be  hung  "  on  the  line,"  not  skied. 

Decorative  art  reduces  line  and  color  to  their  lowest 
terms,  studies  their  elements  and  relations,  and  repro- 
duces those  elements  in  purer  and  subtler  combinations 
than  nature  shows  us.  Much  like  the  laws  of  musical 
composition  are  the  underlying  laws  of  decorative  art. 
But  all  of  this  must  be  gone  into  with  care  and  with 


90  Household  Economics. 

full  illustration  in  our  later  work.  We  shall  follow  the 
evolution  of  this  precious  art  from  where  the  primitive 
potter  first  drew  a  line  around  his  pot,  followed  it  with 
another  and  learned  that  parallel  lines  gave  some  pleas- 
ure ;  with  still  another,  and  found  three  better  than 
two  ;  put  dots  between  them  and  learned  repetition  ; 
put  lines  between  the  dots  and  learned  alternation, — 
and  so  up  through  all  the  laws  of  eye  pleasure,  which 
is  certainly  not  less  than  ear  pleasure,  when  we  under- 
stand its  laws. 

In  these  lines  and  dots  which  we  find,  even  in  the 
tools  of  the  Stone  Age,  lies  the  beginning  of  decorative 
art.  To  the  savage,  even  to-day,  it  has  a  religious 
significance,  as  witness  the  tatooing  of  his  body  and 
the  carving  and  painting  of  his  spear-handle  and  other 
weapons.  Take  the  face  of  the  Maori,  and  every  line 
of  paint  is  a  stor>^,  each  curve  a  grade  in  his  knight- 
hood, and  his  whole  body  to  the  initiated  is  a  family 
record, — a  history  of  sustained  honors. 

At  a  very  early  stage,  the  savage  refused  to  be  con- 
tent with  rough  tanned  skin,  or  uncarved  handle  for 
the  weapon  or  tool  of  sharp  stone.  The  women 
worked  out  some  simple  recurrent  design  for  both  skins 
and  mats,  and  the  men  sought  to  reproduce  in  their 
weapons  of  war  objects  and  curves  that  would  inspire 
terror  in  the  foeman.  Here  came  the  first  departure 
from  mere  nature  watching  ;  invention  stepped  in. 
The  lion  or  boar  singly  was  not  terrible  enough,  and 
he  proceeded  to  combine  their  ferocity  in  a  mongrel 
horror  which  daunted  even  himself  and  meant  night- 
mare to  the  small  boy  of  that  early  age.  Hard  on 
these  first  instincts  came  the  formulations  of  religions, 
and  men  ceased  to  imitate  nature  and  look  farther, 
seeking  some  mystic  symbol  for  the  unseen.      Fixed 


Decoration,  9 1 

laws  soon  regulated  every  line,  as  in  Egypt  and  in  In- 
dia where  century  after  century  each  is  repeated  with- 
out the  faintest  variation.  The  Hindoo,  the  Chinese, 
the  Moor, — the  Oriental  at  all  points, — followed  this  law 
and  produced  a  fixed  scheme  of  decoration.  The 
Greeks  who  in  the  very  beginning  were  the  exception 
to  surrounding  barbarism,  rose  to  perfection  by  quick 
.degrees.  Simple  and  refined  in  manner,  rigid  in  habits, 
hardy  in  health,  with  stalwart  beauty  as  a  standard, 
**  the  flowing  grace  of  their  own  unfettered  limbs  taught 
them  the  purity  of  true  art  lines."  Egypt  went  on 
with  her  foldless  draperies,  indiscriminate  finishing  of 
details,  and  rigid  system  of  coloring.  But  Phoenicia 
waked  up,  and  from  Tyre  and  Sidon  sent  out,  as  did 
Carthage,  stuffs  of  glorious  dyes,  and  golden  cups  and 
coins  clean  cut  and  embossed  ;  while  through  every 
phase  of  advance  Greece  strode  on  through  wars  and 
revolutions,  manifesting  in  all  manner  of  ornamenta- 
tion an  art  growing  steadily  stronger  and  more  refined. 
Until  their  decline  began  with  the  luxury  which  Anac- 
reon  sang,  their  own  habits  remained  simple,  but  they 
gave  lavishly  to  their  gods  ;  and  decorated  broadly  and 
delicately.  Their  rules  were  fixed,  for  a  grammar  of 
decoration  naturally  developed  itself ;  but  it  was  a  fix- 
edness within  whose  limits  all  things  remained  possi- 
ble. The  painters  and  the  workers  in  stone  or  metal 
had  each  a  theory, — nor  can  we  of  to-day  add  to  their 
conception  one  line  that  does  not  mar.  Their  climate 
was  that  of  the  temperate  zone,  and  they  looked  at  na- 
ture with  calmer  eyes  than  belong  to  the  Orientals,  who 
love  gorgeous  coloring  and  lines  of  unending  intricacy, 
— naturally  enough,  when  nature  of  the  most  lavish 
order  surrounds  them.  Color  blazes  from  white  inten- 
sity to  blue  no  less  intense,  to  greens  and  reds  of  the 


92  Household  Economics, 

richest,  and  the  whole  gamut  so  deep  that  all  northern 
bloom  seems  pale  in  comparison.  * '  Through  the 
jungle  and  the  closely-knitted  bush  tracks,  up  and 
down,  over-laced,  across — there  is  not  an  inch  that  is 
not  covered  with  its  tendril  patterns."  They  repro- 
duced them  all  in  strange  arabesques,  each  with  its 
meaning  and  interpretation, — and  to-da}^  the  forms  are 
unchanged,  and  the  student  of  art  recognizes  at  a 
glance  the  source  whence  the  scheme  he  studies  had  its 
inspiration. 

Gradually  as  partial  peace  came  to  fighting,  strug- 
gling humanity,  and  nations  borrowed  from  each  other 
the  points  in  work  that  satisfied  them  best,  it  became 
plain  that  these  decorative  arts  had  three  stages  : 

I. — Art,  purely  necessary  and  useful ; 
2. — Art,  decorative  ; 
3. — Fine  art. 

The  first  came,  as  we  have  seen,  from  the  woman 
who  sought  for  something  to  hold  food,  taking  her 
model,  it  may  be  from  the  gourd,  the  shell,  or  the 
curved  palm  from  which  she  had  drunk  water,  and 
who  fashioned  the  first  rough  clay  vessel  and  dried  it  in 
the  sun.  The  second  stage,  that  of  simple  decoration 
in  line  and  dot,  we  have  already  noted,  and  our  mu- 
seums hold  specimens  of  potter}^  from  various  barbarous 
nations,  the  decoration  of  which  is  plainly  copied  from" 
the  lines  of  basket-work  and  of  woven  nets  and  mats. 

Passing  on  from  this  stage,  one  by  one  the  fine  arts 
join  hands, — and  in  architecture,  painting,  and  sculp- 
ture we  see  the  final  transition  from  the  Stone  Age  and 
the  cave-dweller  to  Phidias  and  the  Parthenon.  Deco- 
ration, or  rather  the  decorative  arts,  must  at  last 
borrow  from  all ;  and  as  you  read  the  history  of  art, 


Decoration,  93 

which  is  in  the  nature  of  things  the  history  of  any 
civiHzation,  you  will  see  how  beauty  and  sense  of 
beauty  grew,  and  how  each  nation  drew  from  others 
the  thing  it  most  needed  and  most  valued. 

Decoration  in  the  largest  sense,  then,  means  all  the 
decorative  arts,  and  no  man  has  better  defined  its 
meaning  than  has  William  Morris. 

"These  are  the  arts,"  he  writes,  "  by  means  of  which  men 
have  at  all  times  more  or  less  striven  to  beautify  the  familiar 
matters  of  every-rlay  life ;  a  wide  subject,  a  great  industry ; 
both  a  great  part  of  the  history  of  the  world,  and  a  most  help- 
ful instrument  to  the  study  of  that  history.  A  very  great 
industry,  indeed,  comprising  the  trades  of  house-building,  paint- 
ing, joinery  and  carpentry,  smith's  work,  pottery,  glass-making, 
weaving,  and  many  others  :  a  body  of  art  most  important  to  the 
public  in  general,  but  still  more  so  to  us  handicraftsmen,  since 
there  is  scarce  anything  that  they  use  and  that  we  fashion,  but 
it  has  always  been  thought  to  be  unfinished  till  it  has  had  some 
touch  or  other  of  decoration  about  it.  True  it  is  that  in  many 
or  most  cases  we  have  got  so  used  to  this  ornament  that  we  look 
upon  it  as  if  it  had  grown  of  itself,  and  note  it  no  more  than 
the  mosses  on  the  dry  sticks  with  which  we  light  our  fires.  So 
much  the  worse  !  For  there  is  the  decoration,  or  some  pretence 
of  it,  and  it  has,  or  ought  to  have,  a  use,  a  meaning.  For,  and 
this  is  at  the  root  of  the  whole  matter,  everj'thing  made  by 
man's  hand  has  a  form  which  must  be  either  beautiful  or  ugly 
— beautiful  if  it  is  in  accord  with  nature  and  helps  her — ugly, 
if  it  is  discordant  with  nature  and  thwarts  her.  It  cannot  be 
indifferent.  We,  for  our  part,  are  busy  or  sluggish,  eager  or 
unhappy,  and  our  eyes  are  apt  to  get  dulled  to  this  eventfulness 
of  form  in  those  things  which  we  are  always  looking  at. 

"Now  it  is  one  of  the  chief  uses  of  decoration,  the  chief 
part  of  its  alliance  with  nature,  that  it  has  to  sharpen  our  dulled 
senses  in  this  matter  ;  for  this  end  are  those  wonders  of  intri- 
cate patterns  interwoven,  those  strange  forms  invented,  that 
men  have  so  long  delighted  in— forms  and  intricacies  that  do  not 
necessarily  imitate  nature,  but  in  which  the  hand  of  the  crafts- 
man is  guided  to  work  in  the  way  that  she  does  ;  till  the  web, 


94 


Household  Economics, 


the  cup,  or  the  knife,  look  as  natural,  nay,  as  lovely  as  the 
green  field,  the  river  bank,  or  the  mountain  flint.  To  give 
people  pleasure  in  the  things  they  must  perforce  iise^ — that  is 
one  great  office  of  decoration.  To  give  people  pleasure  in  the 
things  they  must  perforce  make, — that  is  the  other  use  of  it." 

Out  of  all  this  comes  a  certain  unconscious  intelligence, 
just  as  the  poorest  child  in  Japan  is  born  v^^itli  a  sense 
of  beauty  in  form  and  line  and  reproduces  it  naturally, 
as  his  fingers  are  taught  to  convey  the  thought  of  his 
mind.  As  yet,  we,  as  a  people,  know  nothing  of  these 
gifts,  and  until  every  student  of  household  economics, 
recognizes  that  such  beauty  is  part  of  the  house  and 
must  be  learned  with  no  less  diligence  than  aught  else 
that  goes  to  the  making  of  a  home,  it  cannot  be,  as  it 
must  come  to  be,  the  simple,  natural  inheritance  of 
the  nation.  Beauty  in  the  home  must  come  from  that 
higher  knowledge  given  by  the  higher  education,  and 
in  such  beauty  will  come  the  repose  and  calm  that  we 
sigh  for  and  seek,  and  seek  in  vain,  amid  surroundings 
that  would  turn  the  Greek  into  a  basilisk  and  draw  a 
grin  from  even  a  South-Sea  islander. 

The  list  of  genuinely  good  and  fine  authorities  on 
this  subject  is  a  small  one, — for  I  exclude  at  once  all 
manuals  made  merely  to  sell.  But  Ruskin,  in  bits ; 
William  Morris,  Kastlake,  Lucy  Crane,  and  Rhoda  and 
Agnes  Garrett  will  give  both  theory  and  practical 
knowledge,  while  there  are  other  names  hardly  less 
honorable  and  in  many  ways  useful  and  suggestive. 

This  study  falls  directly  into  the  hands  of  women, 
and  they  must  not  think  they  can  understand  it  by 
instinct.  Women  are  credited  with  having  a  sense  of 
beauty  distinctively  their  own;  "feminine  taste"  is 
spoken  of  as  an  intrinsic  superiority  on  their  part. 
Should  you  think  well  of  the  ear  for  music  of  a  per- 


Decoj-ation. 


95 


former  or  composer  who  deliberately  perpetrated  most 
atrocious  discords  ?  Or  of  the  mathematical  ability  of 
one  who  stoutly  maintained  that  two  and  two  made 
five  ?  How  can  a  sense  of  beauty  be  predicated  of 
those  who  in  their  distinctive  dress  outrage  beautj^'s 
primal  laws,  and  in  their  household  decoration  are  still 
savages  ?  Indeed,  the  art  sense  is  far  better  defined  in 
many  savage  tribes  than  it  is  in  our  women.  When  a 
woman  is  willing  to  wear  around  her  neck,  as  was  done 
in  the  winter  of  1894-95,  ^  thing  that  looks  like  a  dead 
kitten  rolled  out  thin  like  pie-crust,  she  cannot  claim 
the  sense  of  beauty. 

We  speak  with  tender  admiration  of  the  "  traces  of  a 
woman's  hand."  These  are  to  the  novelist,  usually,  a 
bird  in  a  cage,  a  flower  in  a  pot,  and  a  lamp  in  petti- 
coats,— all  of  which  are  questionable  from  an  artistic 
point  of  view.  The  reason  for  our  feeling  is  plain. 
Where  women  are  they  show,  of  course,  signs  of  their 
differing  cults.  And  to  man,  these  signs,  in  speaking 
of  woman,  speak  of  home,  of  love,  of  motherhood,  of  all 
sweet  and  restful  things  ;  and  so  give  pleasure  through 
association  of  ideas,  which  he  attributes  to  their 
beauty.  The  w^oman  who  can  put  together  a  feather- 
duster,  a  Japanese  doll's  head,  and  some  satin  ribbon, 
— using  the  head  to  thrust  the  feather  duster  through, 
so  that  its  tuft  of  feathers  waves  above  the  broken 
skull  and  the  ribbon  conceals  the  decorpitation  below, 
— such  a  woman  has  no  sense  of  beauty.  In  that  one 
object  and  its  placing — the  thing  is  hung  up  in  the 
parlor — is  a  more  potent  proof  of  the  need  of  higher 
education  in  women  than  could  be  written  in  volumes  : 

What  beauty  sense  women  have,  they  acquire  as  men 
do,  by  inheritance,  education,  and  practice, — not  other- 
wise.    And  it  is  hoped  here  to  indicate  how  great  is  the 


96  Household  Eco7iomics, 

need  of  that  education,  that  practice,  and  that  trans- 
mission to  future  generations. 

The  decorative  art  we  have  now  is  of  three  kinds  : 
the  home-made,  save  the  mark  ;  the  readj^-made,  and 
here  there  is  no  mark  to  save  ;  and  that  which  is  born 
and  not  made,  and  which  we  rarely  see.  Nevertheless 
since  England's  renaissance — the  pre-Raphaelite  move- 
ment— there  is  a  strong,  new  art  impulse  in  the  world 
and  great  growth.  The  importance  of  this  knowledge 
to  women,  in  view  of  their  enormous  powers  as  home- 
makers — which  means  man-makers, — is  a  thing  which 
can  hardly  be  overestimated.  We  underestimate  con- 
tinually, however,  holding  our  duty  done  if  the  home 
be,  on  the  one  hand,  clean  and  in  order,  and,  on  the 
other,  fashionable  in  its  appointments  as  far  as  our 
means  allow  ;  and  so  our  children — that  means  all  the 
people,  remember  ! — grow  up  in  a  home  atmosphere  of 
low  art,  bad  art,  or  no  art  at  all  !  This  is  because  we 
have  so  slight  a  conception  of  the  educational  and 
moral  value  of  truth  in  art.  No  one  who  has  studied 
the  principles  of  art,  and  found  their  application  to  the 
conduct  of  life,  can  make  this  mistake. 

Call  to  mind  for  a  moment  that  a  nation's  rise  and 
fall  can  be  measured  absolutely  by  its  art ;  that  a 
healthy  and  virtuous  period  shows  itself  in  strong  pure 
art,  and  a  period  of  debasement  and  vice  in  a  low  and 
vicious  art ;  remember  the  re-active  influence  of  man's 
work  upon  his  character  ;  think  how  much  more  im- 
pressionable are  the  j-oung  to  all  their  surroundings  ; 
and  then  see  how  serious  a  matter  it  is  that  our  chil- 
dren should  have  to  spend  the  most  important  years  of 
their  lives  under  the  influence  of  such  weak,  false, 
frivolous,  and  wicked  art  as  is  found  in  the  average 
home. 


Decoration, 


97 


Pure,  beautiful,  and  harmonious  color  ;  true  and  noble 
form,  surrounding  the  infant  and  the  growing  child, 
have  a  deep,  steady,  unconscious  effect  for  good  which 
helps  make  all  life  better  and  easier  to  him.  Discor- 
dant, stupid  decoration  helps  to  lower  the  tone  and 
weaken  the  power  of  the  mind.  If  your  wall-paper 
was  covered  with  blue  chickens  with  their  heads  cut 
off,  interspersed  with  cannon-balls  and  fish-nets,  it 
would  have  a  confusing  effect  on  the  child's  mind, — 
that,  I  think,  is  perceptible.  So,  in  less  degree,  does 
all  our  silly,  meaningless,  discordant  spattering  of  paint 
and  ribbon  and  lace  affect  him, — not  so  violently  as  the 
blue  chickens  afore  mentioned,  but  surely  none  the 
less.  A  gilded  dustpan  with  a  marsupial  pouch  of  vel- 
vet full  of  photographs  is  calculated  to  check  the  devel- 
opment of  the  logical  faculty,  and  to  drive  the  boys 
away  from  home  as  fast  as  their  legs  can  carry  them  ! 
There  are  no  gilded  dustpans  at  the  club. 

When  the  lines  and  colors  in  your  house  have  no 
relation  to  each  other,  it  is  difi&cult  to  express  the  home 
feeling  ;  and  when  they  quarrel  violently  and  give  one 
another  the  lie  by  their  very  co-existence,  there  is  no 
wonder  that  the  children  disagree.  A  hairpin-holder 
made  to  look  like  a  chair,  a  chair-back  modelled  after  a 
fan,  a  fan  hung  up  and  turned  into  a  pocket — and  all 
of  them  tied  up  in  satin  ribbons, — this  protean  species 
of  decoration  does  not  conduce  to  morality  or  common- 
sense. 

In  sober  sadness,  now,  this  thing  is  true  :  There  is 
absolute  connection  between  man's  inside  nature  and 
his  outside  creation,  and  it  works  both  ways.  Idle,  frivo- 
lous, senseless  humanity  produces  its  kind  in  art ;  and 
idle,  frivolous,  senseless  art  produces  its  like  in  human- 
ity.    A  blank  wall  goes  with  a  blank  mind,  and  would 


98  Household  Economics, 

only  be  willingly  endured  by  an  idiot.  We,  having  a 
high  sense  of  beauty  and  the  fitness  of  things,  use  blank 
walls  in  our  prisons  for  combined  purposes  of  punish- 
ment and  reformation, — and,  in  our  schools,  where  the 
young  of  our  race  spend  attentive  years,  for  their 
educational  value  ! 

The  educational  value  of  a  blank  wall  is  a  thing 
we  shall  know  more  about  by  and  by,  when  house- 
hold economics  are  rightly  understood.  Something,  of 
course,  is  being  done  in  these  lines,  but  it  is  mainly 
from  the  art  side  ;  we  want  to  study  it  from  the  home 
side. 

The  home  where  order  reigns,  not  only  in  the  kitchen 
and  the  linen  closet,  but  quite  as  much  in  the  selection 
of  books  and  pictures,  the  arrangement  of  rooms  and 
the  coloring  thereof, — will  have  as  marked  an  influence 
for  good  as  shown  in  the  advantages  of  our  present 
stage  of  home  order  over  that  of  the  wigwam. 

The  child  is  a  new  soul.  He  has  just  come.  All 
that  he  knows  of  life  he  has  to  learn  after  he  gets  here  ; 
and  what  he  learns  first  stays  longest .  He  is  born — nine- 
ty-nine times  in  a  hundred — into  an  ugly  room  in  an 
ugly  house  on  an  ugly  street  in  an  ugly  city.  Notice  the 
baby's  love  of  flowers,  ribbons,  feathers  ;  see  how  wild 
the  child  is  in  the  garden  or  the  daisy  field  ;  he  loves 
beauty  and  knows  it  when  he  sees  it.  We  introduce  him 
into  a  world  of  ugliness,  and  then  tell  him  by  way  of 
explanation  that  we  did  it !  "  God  made  the  country 
and  man  made  the  town,"  we  say  solemnly  to  the  child. 
Yes,  this  is  very  ugly, — we  made  it ! 

And  man  can  make  things  so  beautiful — such  piled 
up  dreams  of  beauty — that  the  child  will  laugh  and  cry 
aloud  with  ecstasy.  The  works  of  man  are  as  beauti- 
ful as  anything  on  earth.   We  set  up  the  works  of  man  in 


Decoration,  99 

opposition  to  the  works  of  God,  but  in  reality  God 
works  through  man  as  surely  as  through  gem  and 
flower,  if  man  will  let  him. 

We  could  have  city,  street,  house,  and  room  as  beau- 
tiful as  sea-shells,  so  that  the  little  new  souls  among  us 
would  not  lose  all  their  trailing  clouds  of  glory  and 
could  grow  into  a  noble  manhood  and  womanhood 
without  half  the  pain  and  struggle  it  costs  them  now. 

There  is  one  reason  why  this  subject  is  more  heart- 
ening to  dwell  upon  than  are  many  other  phases  of  our 
study.  It  is  within  reach.  We  may  not  be  able  to 
dictate  as  to  our  habitat,  to  command  location,  founda- 
tion, or  elevation,  to  choose  or  order  our  architecture, 
or  even  be  perfectly  sure  of  the  plumbing  ;  but  when  it 
comes  to  decoration,  we  can  cover  the  situation.  No 
matter  how  little  money  there  is,  it  can  be  rightly  spent 
instead  of  wrongly.  And  if  we  cannot  achieve  the  vir- 
tues of  commission,  we  can  at  least  practise  those  of 
omission. 

In  a  class  of  college  men  and  women,  coming  often 
from  beautiful  and  in  the  majority  of  cases  always  from 
comfortable,  well-to-do  homes,  it  is  difi&cult  to  drop  the 
personal  point  of  view  and  recall  the  fact  that  out  of 
our  sixty  millions  of  population,  the  large  proportion 
are  not  only  not  very  well-to-do,  but  with  a  lack  of 
beauty  in  life  and  surroundings  that  is  one  of  the  most 
terrible  sources  of  depression  in  our  prairie  villages,  and 
the  innumerable  isolated  farm-houses  of  the  great  West 
and  Northwest,  indeed  the  whole  country.  How  are 
they  to  know  that  even  when  only  rough  plaster  is  pos- 
sible, that  plaster  can  have,  in  the  mixing,  its  dash  of 
yellow  ochre,  of  green,  or  blue,  or  Indian  red,  and  that 
if  curtains  or  drapings  of  any  order  are  used,  even  w^hen 
only  five  cents  a  yard,  they  can  harmonize  or  contrast 


lOO  Household  Economics, 

according  to  the  laws  of  color  ?  One  shade  of  paint 
does  not  cost  greatly  more  than  another,  and  anything 
is  better  than  the  dirty  white  the  cheap  houses  are  com- 
pelled to  wear. 

If  the  child  asks :  ' '  Why  must  plaster  be  that  color, 
mamma  ? "  it  is  the  country  custom  to  snap  his  head  with 
a  thimble,  worn,  the  child  supposes,  chiefly  for  that 
purpose,  and  to  tell  him,   "  Because  it  w." 

Now  this  question  which  is  very  likely  to  be  heard 
from  any  intelligent  child,  is  a  legitimate  one  and 
to  be  answered  intelligently.  Necessarily  the  reply 
would  be, 

''  Plaster  is  that  color,  my  dear,  because  we  do  not  yet 
know  enough  of  beauty,  and  the  use  of  beauty,  to  make 
it  any  other."  The  knowledge  required  is  not  a  sacred 
mystery  either.  It  does  not  require  a  trip  to  Europe. 
One  lesson  in  color  ought  to  inform  a  class  as  to  which 
are  * '  warm  ' '  and  which  ' '  cold, ' '  and  why.  The  effect 
of  green  on  the  eye  versus  red  ;  the  complementary  col- 
ors, the  use  of  harmony  with  its  restfulness,  and  contrast 
with  its  stimulus, — all  these  little  matters  could  be 
acquired  by  any  intelligent  adult. 

It  is  marvellous  how  soon  the  color-sense  may  be  de- 
veloped, even  in  the  aged.  I  once  knew  of  an  old  lady 
of  the  rigidest  New  England  type  who  had  never  cared 
but  for  two  pictures  in  her  life,  and  who  preferred  the 
parlor  paper  to  be  white  with  a  gold  thread  in  straight 
lines — white  paint,  of  course  ;  and  thin  white  china, — 
all  combining  to  produce  the  effect  of  a  nice  snow-storm 
with  rain  and  sharp  frost  afterward  and  just  a  touch  of 
four-o'clock  sunshine  across  it.  This  good  lady  was 
obliged  to  live  in  the  household  of  an  artist  for  two 
years, — he  being  one  of  those  intense  colorists  whose 
pictures  are  like  stained  glass  in  full  sunlight.     And,  in 


Decoration.  loi 

spite  of  her  years  and  prejudices,  the  atmosphere  of 
Venetian  red,  delf  blue,  deep  yellow,  dull  black,  and 
warm  terra-cotta  so  worked  upon  her  mind  that  she 
never  after  could  be  reconciled  to  the  Arctic  graveyard 
color-scheme  of  her  youth. 

Here  there  opens  up  to  us  a  vista  into  which  we 
may  look,  but  only  to  realize  how  little  teaching  has 
done  for  us,  how  much  we  may  do  for  ourselves. 
Optics  and  the  laws  of  light  it  is  true  are  taught  the 
student,  but  for  the  most  part  merely  by  rote.  Beyond 
the  letter  lies  the  world  of  the  spirit,  but  this  it  would 
seem  the  business  of  what  we  call  education  to  ignore. 
A  scientist  like  Tyndall  takes  us  straight  to  the  heart 
of  that  magic  realm  where  light,  and  color,  and  sound, 
play  at  hide-and-seek  and  the  three  are  often  one.  In 
the  deep  Eastern  philosophies,  the  spiritual  laws  and 
effects  of  colors  are  recited,  their  insight  being  con- 
firmed by  the  scientist  of  to-day.  Swedenborg,  the 
mj^stic,  gives  a  series  of  correspondences  that  are  no 
less  in  line  with  modern  discovery.  The  "blue-glass 
craze"  passed,  being  an  over-statement,  but  it  left 
behind  a  series  of  valuable  deductions  that  have  been 
ever  since  in  use,  not  only  by  physicians,  but  by  fruit 
and  fiow^er  growers  also. 

This  larger  phase  of  the  thought  of  color  and  its 
meanings  may  wait  the  time  of  the  individual  student. 
But  the  simpler  ones  may  not  wait.  Every  child 
should  know  the  meaning  of  a  "rest  room,"  and  every^ 
house  should  own  it  if  no  more  than  the  prophet's 
"little  chamber  on  the  wall  "  ;  a  room  to  which  all 
in  the  home  may  in  turn  have  access.  In  such  room 
experiment  has  shown  that  the  colors  most  quieting 
and  soothing  are,  warm  leaf-browns  for  floor  in  rug  or 
carpet,   brown  of  palest  leaf-brown  for  cushions   and 


I02  Household  Economics. 

drapings,  and  for  high  Hghts,  clear  yellow  sash  curtains, 
lamp  shades,  or  stray  bits  of  color  in  vase  or  jug.  I 
have  seen  a  tired,  over- wrought  woman  pause  at  the 
door  of  such  a  room  and  draw  a  long  breath. 

"  It  is  the  restiest  place  I  ever  saw  !  What  is  it?  " 
cried  one  who  listened  wide-eyed  as  she  heard  the 
theor5^  Yet  the  child  could  know  that  the  tints  earth 
and  leaf  put  on  as  autumn  draws  near  are  the  tints  of 
the  rest  time,  and  that  the  analogy  is  one  to  follow  out. 
Reds,  not  glaring  and  aggressive,  but  the  hues  we  know 
as  Indian  reds,  warm  and  brighten  northern  rooms, 
whilst  blue,  save  in  summer,  sends  a  shiver  all  through 
one.  That  the  floor  should  own  the  darkest  tint  in  the 
room  and  the  ceiling  the  lightest,  follows  the  natural 
law  of  deep-brown  earth  and  blue  sky  with  its  flecks 
of  white  cloud.  As  to  the  more  complicated  combina- 
tions and  contrasts,  only  study  of  their  laws  and 
principles  can  make  plain  their  real  place  and  signifi- 
cance. 

For  the  old  this  knowledge  means  an  addition  to 
life.  There  is  a  vital  quality  in  red  that  warms  and 
cheers,  unconsciously  often,  and  it  should  be  the  chief 
tone  of  the  color  scheme  in  the  rooms  in  which  they 
spend  the  most  time.  Happily  for  us  all  schemes  of 
color  in  which  the  materials  used  may  be  of  the  rich- 
est, or  of  the  cheapest,  but  in  which  harmony  is  the 
law,  have  been  worked  out  for  us,  and  any  woman 
may  study,  as  if  it  were  a  mathematical  proposition, 
what  harmonizes  and  what  does  not,  whether  in  Mend- 
ings or  contrasts.  If  to  such  study  she  can  bring  a 
natural  color-sense  only  waiting  a  touch  to  begin  de- 
velopment, the  way  is  clear,  and  for  most  American 
women  this  may  be  taken  for  granted. 

It  is  plain,  then,  that  we  can  have  beauty  in  decora- 


Decoration,  103 

tion,  if  we  only  know  enough  to  want  it ;  and  we  can 
learn  all  that  is  necessary  in  order  to  want  it  without 
any  desperate  efifort. 

Mean  as  our  houses  are  to-day,  we  can  build  an  inner 
beauty  which  will  help  us  to  better  living.  "  Often 
in  a  wooden  house  a  golden  room  we  find  !  ' '  And 
the  tired  man  and  tireless  child  will  find  rest  and 
growth  therein.  Moreover,  the  "  golden  room  "  will 
so  work  upon  our  spirits  as  to  force  us  into  better 
houses  soon.  The  beauty  within  would  teach  us  to 
see  the  ugliness  without,  and  we  should  soon  find  it 
unbearable. 

If  the  women  of  the  world  would  develop  a  sense 
of  beauty,  would  apply  it,  first,  to  that  body  which 
is  the  fairest  thing  God  ever  made ;  second,  to  the  fit 
clothing  of  that  fair  body  in  all  honor  to  the  immortal 
soul  within  ;  third,  to  the  encompassing  household 
walls,  Vv'ithin  which  so  many  of  life's  tenderest  hours 
are  passed  and  such  high  duty  done  ; — by  this  threefold 
expression  of  beauty,  the  beauty  which  is  truth  and 
right,  they  would  do  more  to  elevate  the  race  and 
purify  politics  than  even  the  right  of  suffrage  will 
accomplish. 

Beauty,  be  it  remembered,  is  the  expression  of  the 
highest  of  all.  Our  familiar  phrase  concerning  some 
well  acting  scheme,  "That's  the  beauty  of  it !  "  is 
a  true  oue.  The  beauty  of  a  thing  is  its  perfectness. 
Beauty  in  decoration  is  only  a  part  of  the  beauty  of 
living,  but  a  most  essential  part.  For  there  can  be 
no  true  decoration  without  full  understanding  of  the 
thing  to  be  decorated,  its  place,  use,  and  value. 

There  is  one  point  of  view  from  which  this  subject 
calls  for  our  attention  which  is  of  deepest  importance 
to  both  men  and  women  ;  that  is,  the  point  of  view  of 


1 04  Household  Economics, 

patriotism.  As  a  nation,  we  need  a  nobler  art.  The 
ugliness,  the  coarse  disorder,  in  v/hich  we  are  content 
to  live,  is  not  only  a  national  disgrace,  but  is  also  a 
direct  check  to  needed  growth.  We  should  be  more 
intelligent,  more  moral,  and  even  more  prosperous, 
were  we  more  artistic.  As  it  is  now,  though  w^e  have 
all  the  beauty  of  nature  and  all  the  art  of  Europe  to 
draw  from  ;  though  we  have  great  talent  among  us 
and  abundant  training,  American  art  is  hampered, 
dwarfed,  and  utterly  distorted  by  the  lack  of  a  cultivated 
taste  in  the  great  public.  While  the  housewives  of 
America  know  no  more  of  art  than  they  do  now,  they 
will  continue  to  raise  the  children  of  America  in  taste- 
less homes  of  discord  and  confusion  ;  and  such  chil- 
dren will  grow  up  to  form  both  our  market  for  the 
artist's  work,  and  the  public  opinion  that  governs  it. 
The  woman  whose  taste  governs  the  market,  governs 
her  dress  and  that  of  her  children  and  modifies  that 
of  her  husband  ;  governs  the  furnishing  and  decora- 
tion of  her  house  and  helps  to  criticise  more  public 
products  ; — this  woman  is  an  enormous  factor  in  our 
national  character.  Two  things  she  has  to  under- 
stand :  What  art  is  to  the  household,  and  what  the 
household  is  to  art ;  then,  using  her  power  to  the  full 
extent,  she  can  lift  her  race  in  great  sweeps  of  progress 
towards  the  higher  living  we  all  so  much  look  for, 
and  so  little  work  for. 

Pure  and  great  art  in  the  home  will  help  to  make 
a  pure  and  great  nation. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  AND   REFERENCES. 

Hints  on  Household  Taste,  by  Sir  Charles  Eastlake. 
The  House  Beautiful,  by  Clarence  Cook. 
The  House  Comfortable,  by  Agnes  Ormsbee. 


Decoration.  105 


"  House  Decoration,"  by  Mary  Gay  Humphreys  ;  chap.  xv.  in 

The  Woman's  Book. 
House  Decoration,  by  Rhoda  and  Agnes  Garrett. 
Art  and  the  Formation  of  Taste,  by  Lucy  Crane. 
Lectures  on  Art,  by  William  Morris. 
Hopes  and  Fears  for  Art,  by  William  Morris. 
Woman's  Handiwork  in  Modern  Homes,  by  Constance  Cary 

Harrison. 
Outlines  of  the  History  of  Art,  by  Dr.  Wilhelm  Lubke,  edited 

by  Clarence  Cook. 
The  History    of  Ancient    Art,    from  the  German  of    John 

Wincklemann. 
The  Two  Paths:  Lectures  on  Art  and  its  Application  to  Dec- 
oration and  Manufactures,  by  John  Ruskin. 
Hand-book  of  Greek  ArchcBology,  by  A.  S.  Murray.     "  Mural 

Decoration,"  pp.  348-444. 
Hand-book  of  Pottery  and  Porcelain,  by  Hodder  Westropp. 
History  of  Ancient  Pottery,  by  Samuel  Birch. 
A  Short  History  of  Tapestry,  by  Eugene  Muntz,  translated  by 

Miss  Louisa  A.  Davis. 
^Esthetics,  by  Eugene  Veron. 
The  Pottery  and  Porcelain  of  the    U?iited  States,  by  Edwin 

Atlee  Barber. 
"Domestic  Decoration,"  by  A.  F.  Oakey.   Harper's  Magazine, 

vol.  Ixviii.,  p.  579. 
"American  Decorative  Art,"    by  M.    G.    Humphreys.      Art 

fournal,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  325. 
"  Decoration  and  Furnishing,"  by  C.  F.  Armytage.    American 

Architect,  vol.  xviii.,  p.  116. 
Decorative  Decorations,  by  G.  H.  EHwanger. 
Practical  Designing— Carpets,  Alex  Millar  ;     Woven  Fabrics, 

Ar.      Silver.    Pottery,    Wilton      P.     Rix  ;    Tiles,     Owen 

Carter ;  Metal  Work,  R.  LI.  B.  Rathbone. 
Home  Hatidicrafts,  edited  by  Chas.  Peters. 
Decoration  and  Furniture  of  Town  Houses,  by  Robt.  W.  Edis. 
Art  in  the  House,  by  Jacob  Von   Falke  (trans,   by  Chas.  C. 

Perkins). 
Album  of  Decorative  Figures,  by  J.  Moyr  Smith. 
Hand-book  of  Ornament,  by  Franz  Sales  Meyer. 


io6  Household  Economics. 

Decorator  and  Furnisher,  New  York. 

"Modern  Decoration,"  Illustrated  Monthly,  Int.   News  Co., 

New  York, 
House  Beautiful,  by  W.  C.  Gannett. 
Esthetic  Principles,  by  H.  Marshall,  1890. 
American  Architecture,  by  Montgomery  Schuyler. 
Evolution  of  Decorative  Art,  by  H.Balfour. 
Birth  and  Development  of  Ornament,  by  Hulme. 
Renaissance  Architecture  and  Ornament  in  Spain,  by  A.  N. 

Prentice. 
Pottery  and  Porcelain,  from  early  times  down  to  the  Philadephia 

Exhibition,  by  Charles  Wyllys  Elliot. 
The  Kabbala,  or.  The  True  Science  of  Light,  together  with  a 

chapter  on  Light  in  the  Vegetable  Kingdom,  by  S.  Pancoast, 

M.D.,     R.  Worthington. 
The  Principles  of  Light  and  Color,  by  Edwin  D.  Babbitt. 
Light,  by  John  Tyndall,  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FURNISHING. 

Organic  Relation  of  Furniture  to  Humanity — Man  Manufac- 
tures Extensions  of  his  Body  while  the  Animals  Grow 
Them — Laws  of  Construction — Use  and  Beauty — Practical 
Conditions — Destructibility — Relative  Value  of  Materials  : 
Mineral,  Vegetable,  and  Animal — Limitations  of  Applied 
Beauty — Essential  Principles — Use — Ease  and  Economy — 
Evolution  of  House  Furniture  :  the  Seat,  the  Couch,  the 
Table,  the  Cupboard,  the  Vessel— Vessel,  Utensil,  Tool- 
History,  Distribution,  Present  Status — Relation  to  Class, 
Industry,  Wealth,  Sex,  Age— Children's  Furniture — Car- 
pets, Rugs,  and  Cushions— Upholstery— Specialization  and 
Personality  in  Furniture — Mobility  as  a  Factor  in  Evo- 
lution— Ideals. 

WE  have  found  already  in  our  study  of  the 
house,  an  unbroken  chain  connecting  the 
soul  of  man  with  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
and  in  this  chain,  furniture,  which  touches  the  house 
on  one  side  and  the  body  on  the  other,  is  an  important 
link.  The  word  furniture  is  used  here  in  its  larger 
sense,  covering  all  the  household  appliances,  all  mova- 
bles, from  the  bedstead  to  the  teaspoon.  They  are 
all  part  of  the  furnishing  of  the  house  ;  all  serve  for  the 
extension  of  human  power  and  activity,  and  all  are 
evolved  by  the  same  great  law  which  gives  us  feet  to 
stand  on  and  teeth  to  chew  with.     I^et  us  follow  for  a 


io8  Household  Economics. 

moment  the  lines  of  development  which  have  filled  our 
moving  wagons  with  household  impedimenta. 

It  is  in  this  field  that  we  find  most  fulW  exemplified 
that  marvellous  advantage  of  the  human  creature,  who 
makes  to  himself  innumerable  ulterior  conveniences  in 
passive  and  active  furniture,  a  writing-desk,  for  in- 
stance, being  passive,  a  pen  active,  and  thereby  multi- 
plies and  develops  his  power  a  thousand-fold.  All 
furniture  is  based  on  bodily  needs  ;  and  its  value  is  to 
be  measured  by  its  right  meeting  of  those  needs. 

A  chair  is  meant  to  sit  on,  and  so  rest  the  body  without 
lowering  it  to  the  earth  entirely  ;  so  saving  the  exertion 
of  getting  up  again.  It  is  safer,  easier,  cleaner  than 
lying  on  the  floor.  Originally,  a  mere  stool,  the  back 
was  added  to  further  rest  the  trunk  muscles,  and  the 
arms  similarly. 

The  literal  fact  of  furniture  being  an  extension  of 
the  body  is  easily  enough  shown.  The  human  body  of 
to-day  is  so  constituted  as  to  be  able  to  receive  such 
and  such  sensations,  perform  such  and  such  labors, 
sustain  such  and  such  stress.  It  is  an  instrument  vary- 
ing considerably  from  the  body  of  the  early  savage,  or 
of  a  lower  animal.  In  some  ways  it  is  superior,  in  others 
inferior  ;  such  as  it  is,  it  is  conditioned  upon  the  furni- 
ture which  allows  its  varied  activities.  If  the  human 
hand  had  to  do  all  its  work  itself,  as  the  monkey's  paw 
does,  it  would  not  be  the  human  hand.  If  we  dug  with 
it,  we  should  lose  the  finer  susceptibilities  of  touch 
at  once,  and  grow  heavy  claws.  If  we  used  it  for  spoon 
and  fork,  with  teeth  our  only  knives  ;  if  we  were  forced 
to  do  a  tenth  part  of  the  day's  work  "  with  our  bare 
hands,"  we  should  soon  have  no  "hands"  to  do  it 
with.  They  would  lose  the  distinctive  characteristics 
which  make  them  hands.     The  infinite  subtlety   of 


Furnishing.  109 

development  shown  in  the  special  tools  of  some  trades, 
needles  for  instance,  paint,  brushes,  and  the  exquisite 
subdivisions  of  a  dentist's  tiny  instruments, — these  carry 
with  them  the  hand  of  delicate  and  varied  UvSe.  And 
were  it  not  for  such  tools  we  should  not  have  that  hand 
as  it  is.  The  elephant's  trunk  and  its  one  finger  is  a 
wonderful  organ  ;  the  flea  has  a  good  outfit  of  vivisect- 
ing tools  in  his  mouth  ;  but  there  is  nothing  else  in 
nature  that  approaches  the  human  hand  with  its  deriva- 
tives. That  which  makes  it  a  hand  instead  of  a  paw 
is  the  capacity  for  varied  use,  and  the  capacity  for 
varied  use  depends  upon  its  tools.  They  are  parts  of 
the  body,  like  patent  detachable  finger-nails,  transposa- 
ble  teeth,  and  the  like. 

This  being  so,  it  is  plain  that  the  laws  of  construc- 
tion, their  use  and  beaut}'-,  must  be  considered  in  con- 
tinuous regard  to  the  human  bod}^  They  have,  of 
course,  their  own  absolute  condition  besides;  matters 
of  durability  have  to  be  considered,  as  well  as  adapta- 
bility, and  the  relative  value  of  different  materials. 

To  the  household  economist,  the  chair  represents  so 
much  physical  rest,  modified,  of  course,  by  personality  ; 
so  much  beauty  of  its  own  ;  so  much  relation  to  other 
articles  associated  with  it ;  and  so  much  durability. 
To  the  average  purchaser,  a  chair  is  not  judged  surely, 
even  by  the  first  of  these  considerations,  and  the  others 
are  lost  sight  of  altogether. 

Our  forefathers  who  made  things  so  strictly  for  use, 
and  that  governed  as  strictly  by  economy,  missed  but 
one  factor  of  beauty,  and  that  is  ease.  The  beauty  of 
any  usable  thing,  from  a  leg  to  a  ladle,  is  based  on  three 
conditions  :  use,  ease,  and  economy. 

**  You  must  have  something  to  stand  on,  must  you  ?  '* 
says  Nature.      "Very  well,  here's  a  leg.     Doesn't 


I  lo  Household  Eco7iomics, 

work  easily?  I'll  fix  it."  And  forthwith  she  adds 
joints  and  kneepans  and  all  manner  of  ropes  and 
pulleys  to  make  it  go.  Then  when  it  is  strong  to 
stand  on  and  easy  to  use,  she  shears  off  all  superflu- 
ities, and  behold  "how  beautiful  the  limb  is  ! " 

The  maker  of  the  ladle  is  governed  by  the  same  con- 
siderations. It  must  be  a  perfect  ladle  to  begin  with  ; 
it  must  conform  in  every  curve  and  line  to  the  comfort- 
able use  of  its  holder,  and  it  must  have  no  needless 
weight  or  substance.  Here  is  w^here  certain  ostenta- 
tious teaspoons  fail  of  beauty — there  is  too  much 
material  for  either  our  ease  of  use  or  their  necessary 
durability,  as  well  as  often  too  much  ornament  for 
comfortable  handling.  The  pitcher  that  does  not  pour 
well  cannot  be  beautiful,  though  of  gold  ;  the  glass  so 
frail  that  it  needs  to  be  under  glass  for  protection  is  not 
beautiful  in  common  use  ;  nor  is  the  china  whose  easy 
use  is  its  sure  destruction.  The  spider-legged  table 
and  its  insect  family  of  chairs,  the  things  that  creak 
when  we  sit  down  and  tip  over  when  we  get  up,  these 
are  not  beautiful. 

If  a  thing  is  of  a  light  and  frail  appearance,  as  a  bam- 
boo chair,  it  should  also  be  so  simple  in  its  construction 
as  not  to  suggest  waste  labor.  And  if  a  thing  is  rich 
in  inlaid  work  or  carving,  it  should  be  solid  enough  to 
endure  time  and  strain,  else  its  beauty  carries  a  con- 
stant element  of  distress,  and  so  ceases  to  be  beauty. 

Beauty,  be  it  observed,  is  not  by  any  means  a 
"  mere  matter  of  opinion."  Beauty  has  its  laws  and 
dies  upon  the  infringement  thereof.  It  is  quite  possi- 
ble, of  course,  to  believe  an  ugly  thing  to  be  beautiful, 
through  association  of  ideas,  false  education,  low  per- 
ceptive faculties,  and  the  like  ;  but  because  a  thing 
seems  to  a  person  to  be  beautiful,  it  does  not,  by  any 


Furnishing,  III 

means,  follow  that  it  is  so.  Take,  for  instance,  the 
African  admiration  for  extremely  fat  women,  the  Chi- 
nese admiration  for  deformed  feet,  our  own  admiration 
for  deformed  waists ; — that  a  given  object  conveys 
pleasure  to  the  ej-e  by  no  means  proves  it  beautiful. 
We  Americans,  as  a  whole,  have  a  low  national  taste 
and  need  much  honest  study  before  we  can  recognize 
true  beauty.  And  even  after  we  have  learned  a  good 
deal  about  it,  there  remains  the  endlessly  varied  appli- 
cation according  to  our  personal  and  industrial  and 
social  and  economic  limits.  When  it  comes  to  house 
furniture,  that,  like  home  architecture,  is  modified  by 
so  many  necessities  as  to  make  any  clear,  high  beauty 
impossible. 

Suppose  we  begin  to  plan  for  parlor  furniture  :  car- 
pet, tables,  chairs,  sofas,  curtains,  etc.  Everything 
has  to  be  modified  by  many  considerations.  If  it  is  a 
family  room,  it  must  not  offend  the  personal  taste  of 
any  member  of  the  family.  The  varied  use  of  every 
article  by  many  people  modifies  its  possibilities  im- 
mensely. If  there  are  boys,  a  certain  grade  of  furnish- 
ing follows  ;  if  babies,  another ;  if  cats  and  dogs, 
another.  Furnishing  depeyids.  It  depends  on  so  many 
things  that  we  cannot  hope  for  high  beauty  in  the 
ordinary  household  ;  but  still  in  certain  rooms  in  some 
houses  there  might  be  noble  furnishing ;  in  others, 
much  that  is  pretty  ;  and  in  all,  a  harmony  and  sweet 
reasonableness  now  almost  unknown.  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible also  for  each  of  us  to  learn  to  know  good  furniture 
when  we  see  it,  as  well  as  good  architecture.  And  if 
our  household  exigencies  require  cast-iron  and  tow- 
cloth  things,  to  see  to  it  that  they  be  harmoniously 
constructed. 

I^et  us  consider  in  detail  one  article,   say  a  chair. 


112  Household  Economics, 

Being  meant  to  support  the  weight  of  the  human  body, 
the  chair's  personal  beauty  requires  that  it  shall  show 
power  to  do  this, — and  not  greatly  more.  If  a  chair 
looks  strong  enough  to  support  a  weary  elephant,  it  is 
not  beautiful ;  nor  if  it  looks  as  though  a  cat's  weight 
would  strain  it.  Support  is  the  first  requisite  of  a 
chair.  After  that  the  relative  comfort  of  the  support 
enters  into  the  beauty  of  the  chair  ;  it  must  in  all  ways 
conform  to  its  use.  These  demands  complied  with,  it 
has  minor  considerations  of  its  own.  Not  being  al- 
ways occupied,  it  should  not  be  so  built  as  to  suggest 
too  painfully  the  absent  sitter ;  a  self-respecting  chair 
has  some  character  of  its  own.  Grace  and  powder  in  its 
lines,  fine  material,  true  decoration, — these  may  make 
the  chair  a  thing  of  beauty  in  itself,  even  when  empty. 
But  none  of  them  must  ever  interfere  with  the  comfort 
of  the  user,  the  chair's  raison  d'etre. 

This  reasoning  holds  good  for  every  article  of  furni- 
ture. First,  its  use  to  man  ;  second,  its  own  laws  of 
construction  and  decoration  ;  third, — and  here  only  the 
individual  can  dictate, — its  relation  to  the  thousand 
needs  of  household  life.  One  generalization  may  be 
permitted  on  this  line.  Knowing  that  household  needs 
are  various  and  conflicting,  and  so  require  a  low  com- 
mon denominator,  no  article  in  a  room  for  general  use 
should  be  of  any  marked  eccentricity.  The  private 
room  may  show  more  of  this  ;  but  high  specialization 
in  furniture  calls  for  the  same  specialization  in  use, 
such  as  the  peculiarly  personal  or  professional  use  of 
the  dentist's  chair,  barber's  chair,  invalid's  chair. 
For  household  use,  certain  low-toned  harmonies  are 
best :  things  restful,  useful,  quietly  beautiful,  not  too 
pronounced.  A  Bengal  tiger  on  a  hearth-rug,  for  in- 
stance,— one  of  the  favorite  designs  of  rug  in  many 


Furnishing.  1 1 3 

middle-class  English  houses, — can  never  be  considered 
as  soothing,  and  it  is  happily  being  replaced  by  some- 
thing less  suggestive  of  barbarism. 

The  background  for  all  furnishing  comes  under  the 
head  of  decoration,  and  will  be  studied  in  detail  in  the 
larger  course  to  which  this  volume  opens.  For  the 
furniture  itself  there  are  always  three  principal  consid- 
erations :  (i)  the  size  of  the  apartment  in  wdiicli  it  is 
to  be  placed  ;  (2)  the  purpose  of  the  room  ;  (3)  the 
object  or  use  of  the  articles  themselves.  To  these  con- 
siderations others  must  be  made  subservient. 

Then  follow  certain  practical  considerations  :  the  na- 
ture of  the  materials  to  be  emploj^ed,  mineral,  vege- 
table, and  animal,  their  relative  durability  and  destructi- 
bility.  The  nurserj^  for  instance,  or  other  room  which 
children  are  to  occupy  with  some  sense  of  space  and 
comfort,  demands  absolutely  different  treatment  from 
that  of  the  drawing-room  given  chiefly  to  the  reception 
of  guests. 

Until  within  a  generation,  a  '*  set  "  of  furniture  has 
been  regarded  as  a  necessity  for  a  well  furnished  parlor, 
and  the  average  housekeeper,  having  little  money  to 
spend,  invested  it  in  hair-cloth, — the  most  hideous  as 
well  as  the  most  durable  of  all  fabrics  that  the  mind  of 
man  has  ever  evolved.  In  its  natural  colors,  a  species 
of  iron-gray,  it  was  a  trifle  less  objectionable  ;  but  in- 
scrutable desires  on  the  part  of  the  buyer  brought  the 
dyer  to  the  front  and  gave  inky  and  glossy  blackness  as 
the  result.  Repulsive  in  color,  slippery  in  finish  to  that 
degree  that  no  mortal  could  do  aught  but  slide  and  slip 
uneasily  on  the  cold  and  ungracious  surface, — the  New 
England  mind  seized  upon  this  as  the  ideal,  and  for 
generations  held  to  it  wnth  fervor.  The  rep  set  fol- 
lowed,— usually  green  or  dark  red, — and  this  was  a 


114  Household  Economics, 

great  step  forward.  Gradually,  with  the  slow  develop- 
ment of  a  faint  sense  of  beauty,  cretonne  and  other  fab- 
rics have  come  into  use,  while  the  growing  familiarity 
with  Japanese  and  other  Eastern  fabrics  is  teaching  us 
the  value  of  an  admixture  of  mineral  material,  as  gold 
and  silver,  or  copper  thread. 

The  cottage  requires  a  lighter  order  of  furniture  than 
the  mansion  ;  but  this  does  not  mean  flimsiness  of  con- 
struction or  poor  material  for  covering.  Wool  invites 
moths,  and  in  our  furnace-heated  houses  where  life  is 
made  easy  for  them,  wool  is  always  liable  to  their  at- 
tacks. But  there  are  beautiful  combinations,  very 
durable  in  quality,  in  silk,  or  cotton,  or  linen,  as  well 
as  in  silk  and  wool.  It  would  be  a  delight  at  this  very 
point  to  take  up  room  by  room  with  the  best  type  of 
furniture  for  each  ;  but  once  more  our  limitations  hold 
us  back,  and  I  can  do  little  more  than  give  a  few  of  the 
genuinely  good  and  helpful  authorities :  Sir  Charles 
Bastlake's  Hints  on  Household  Taste  still  ranks  as  one 
of  the  best  and  most  suggestive  of  these.  The  Maga- 
zine of  Art,  the  Art  Journal,  and  a  few  other  art  period- 
icals frequently  give  elaborate  descriptions  of  artistic 
furniture  with  illustrations,  sometimes  with  schemes  of 
furnishing  adapted  to  varying  purses.  All  these  the 
student  can  begin  at  any  time  to  study,  with  careful 
attention  to  the  models  given  in  Litchfield's  Illustrated 
History  of  Furniture. 

The  evolution  of  house  furniture  from  its  primal  ele- 
ments is  a  simple  process,  still  going  on  about  us.  In 
the  cave  of  our  forefathers  was  the  ledge  and  the  boul- 
der offering  themselves  invitingly  to  sit  on,  lie  on,  put 
things  on  ;  and  in  the  curved  hand  of  our  forefather 
bringing  water  to  his  lips,  was  the  prototype  of  the 
dish.     Leaf,  shell,  husk,  pericarp  ;  he  used  what  na- 


Furnishing.  1 1 5 

ture  gave  him  first,  and  then,  of  bark  and  skin,  of  clay 
and  straw,  began  to  fit  new  uses  with  new  utensils. 

So  long  as  the  hunter  and  shepherd  ran  about  after 
their  dinners,  no  high  evolution  of  furniture  appeared  ; 
the  lacustrine  population  made  more  progress,  and  the 
agriculturist  with  his  wealth  of  stores  and  permanent 
storehouse  soon  evoked  a  corresponding  wealth  of  tools 
and  vessels. 

It  is  the  multiplication  of  human  things, — really  the 
secondary  powers  of  the  wonderful  body  of  ours — which 
we  are  following.  In  weapon  and  garment  came  man's 
first  step  :  skin  upon  skin  for  warmth,  tool  within  tool 
for  power.  And  then,  as  things  increased,  the  need  for 
things  to  put  things  on,  things  to  put  things  in,  things 
to  make  things  with.  In  the  subtle  manifold  special- 
ization of  our  great  factories,  you  will  find  machines  to 
make  tools  to  make  machines  to  make  tools  again, — an 
endless  chain  ;  but  in  our  homes  we  are  comparatively 
simple  yet.  The  sewing-machine  is  our  most  complex 
development,  and  perhaps  a  coffee-mill  or  so.  Other- 
wise, we  have  as  yet  the  "first  power"  of  furniture 
only  ;  just  "  things"  in  their  simple  immediate  relation 
to  the  body.  Primitive  furniture  was  very  near  its  an- 
tecedent ledge  and  boulder  :  heavy,  durable,  immovable. 
The  bed  was  often  built  into  the  house  ;  as  we  find  it 
to-day  in  Northern  countries ;  the  table  stood  finally 
in  place  ;  the  chairs  were  things  to  haul  around.  The 
original  cupboard — a  crack  in  the  rock  or  hole  in  the 
tree — no  more  advanced  than  the  squirrel's — grew 
through  various  stages  of  closetry  and  shelving  into 
our  varied  ramifications  of  movable  wardrobes,  book- 
cases, etageres,  and  w^hatnots. 

When  we  say  "evolution,"  it  means  always  the 
same  thing  :   "  A  process  of  development  from  indefi- 


1 1 6  Household  Economics, 

nite,  incoherent  homogeneity  to  definite,  coherent  hete- 
rogeneity by  a  series  of  differentiations  and  speciali- 
zations."    This  is  the  story  of  furniture. 

The  British  Museum  contains  six  chairs,  the  earliest 
examples  of  the  ancient  Egyptian  theories,  and  all 
about  the  same  height  as  our  present  chairs.  A  beau- 
tiful one  is  of  ebony  turned  in  the  lathe  and  inlaid  with 
collars  and  dice  of  ivory,  the  seat  being  of  heav}^  cane 
slightly  hollowed.  Another  of  turned  and  polished 
rosewood  has  a  seat  of  skin  and  folds  precisely  like  our 
modern  folding-chair,  but  much  more  securel}'.  They 
chose  heads  of  animals  for  ornamentation,  as  the 
Assyrians  did,  and  their  couches,  tables,  and  cupboards 
were  all  heavy,  solid,  and  finely  carved,  the  seats  being 
upholstered  or  embroidered  with  the  richest  materials. 
Both  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans  used  folding-chairs, 
carrying  them  in  the  chariot  for  use  in  the  Forum, 
lecture  halls,  and  the  baths.  Form  and  construction 
remained  much  the  same,  the  Greek  predominating 
and  perfection  of  finish  being  regarded  as  the  first 
essential,  being  in  each  case  according  to  the  material 
employed. 

The  renaissance  in  art  made  great  changes  in  archi- 
tecture, and  all  this  transition  was  exemplified  in  the 
furniture.  The  princes  and  nobles  of  Rome,  Venice, 
and  Milan  ordered  and  often  designed  the  most  sumptu- 
ous chairs  and  tables,  cabinets,  beds,  and  chests,  and  as 
an  almost  uniform  training  was  given  to  the  artists  who 
resorted  to  Italy,  the  work  done  by  them  in  Spain, 
Flanders,  and  Germany,  especially  under  the  reign  of 
Charles  the  Fifth,  can  hardly  be  distinguished  from 
that  of  Itahan  artists  in  the  same  period.  Henry  the 
Eighth  in  England,  and  Francis  the  First  in  France, 
encouraged  this  revival  of  the  arts  ;  but  the  beauty  of 


Furnishmg,  1 1 7 

this  sixteenth-century  work  declined  in  the  seventeenth 
century, — nor  has  it  had  serious  attempt  at  reproduction 
until  the  present  day,  when  fixed  and  often  stupid  and 
unlovely  forms  are  giving  place  to  genuine  artistic 
designs. 

The  construction  of  a  perfect  chair  means  many 
things.  Each  part  should  be  as  perfectly  united  to  the 
next  as  if  it  had  grown  in  its  place ;  and  this  means 
well  seasoned  wood,  exactly  cut  tennons  and  mortices, 
very  hot  glue  of  the  best  quality,  and  the  proper  press- 
ure in  putting  it  together.  Lightness  for  ease  in  mov- 
ing is  another  requisite.  If  carving  is  used,  it  should 
be  absolutely  subordinate  to  the  outline  and  the  com- 
fort of  the  sitter,  never  interfering  with  the  dress,  nor 
being  liable  to  breakage  from  having  salient  points, 
masses,  or  ornaments  exposed.  The  same  general  laws 
apply  to  couches  and  beds,  and  the  ancients  worked 
them  out  at  once,  held  to  them  rigorously,  and  would 
look  with  consternation  at  our  veneered,  warped,  mis- 
shapen products,  made  to  sell,  and  utterly  cheap  and 
mean  in  expression. 

The  sensitive  touch  of  the  human  hand  must  be  in 
anything  that  holds  high  artistic  quality,  and  the  factory 
can  never  give  us  distinctive  work.  As  we  learn  once 
more  this  law  known  thousands  of  years  ago,  each  of 
us  will  want  at  least  one  piece  of  furniture  designed  by 
an  artist, — by  ourselves  if  we  have  artistic  perception, 
and  in  time  we  shall  all  return  to  the  earlier  ideals, 
learn  the  place  of  ornament,  and  gain  once  more  a 
distinct  conception  of  a  bed,  a  chair,  a  couch,  a  table. 
The  evolution  of  each  is  as  clearly  traced  as  that  of  the 
chair,  and  in  a  volume  on  The  Home  Life  of  the 
Greeks  'and  Ro^nans,  one  finds  the  history  of  all  they 
regarded  as  being  called  furniture. 


1 1 8  Household  Economics, 

The  most  perfect  adaptation  to  the  use  required  of  it, 
and  the  utmost  beauty  of  hne  and  finish,  characterized 
even  the  simplest  and  humblest  piece  of  furniture  or  bit 
of  pottery  ;  and  to  gain  again  the  beauty  of  these  two 
essential  points,  in  our  modern  work,  we  must  study 
the  creations  of  the  past  and  learn  the  thought  of  the 
beauty-loving  Greek  and  of  the  nation  that  followed  in 
his  train. 

In  its  intimate  relation  to  human  life,  furniture  forms 
a  direct  expression  of  the  class,  ' '  age,  sex,  and  condi- 
tion of  servitude  ' '  of  its  user.  Each  class  varying  in 
needs,  varies  commensurately  in  its  furnishing  ;  an- 
other evidence  of  its  place  as  an  extension  of  human 
power  and  activity.  As  the  human  creature  varies  and 
develops,  his  furniture  varies  and  develops,  in  absolute 
relation  to  himself. 

Poverty,  luxury,  intelligence, — all  are  shown  in  the 
furniture  ;  the  upward  growth  manifesting  itself  quickly 
in  luxuriant  outbursts  of  new  things  ;  and  the  down- 
ward, in  the  slow  processes  of  unrepaired  decay,  or  the 
quick  stripping  of  sale  or  confiscation. 

It  is  our  misfortune — the  misfortune  of  those  of  us 
who  have  approximately  what  furniture  we  w^ant — 
that  our  evolution  into  heterogeneity  is  neither  definite 
nor  coherent  ;  that  we  do  not  grasp  the  principles 
which  relate  the  development  of  furniture  to  life,  and 
therefore  the  orderly  arrangement  of  our  rooms  and 
the  carefulness  of  our  dusting  do  not  give  truth  or 
peace  to  discordant  collections  of  upholstered  articles 
having  neither  intrinsic  nor  relative  beauty.  Here,  as 
usual,  the  higher  specialization  of  man's  work  has 
given  him  more  perfect  furniture.  A  finely-appointed 
office  or  study  v^^ith  its  desk  breathing  embodied  busi- 
ness, its  chair  of  complex  possibilities  and  perfect  com- 


Furnishing,  1 1 9 

fort,  and  its  revolving  book-case  that  seems  so  glad  to 
serve  the  wish  of  the  master  ;  this  shows  a  more  ad- 
vanced degree  of  furnishing  than  is  often  possible  in 
the  home. 

In  this  fact,  also,  we  find  one  of  the  divisions  on  sex 
lines  which  is  so  unfortunate  in  its  results,  and  which 
our  women  would  do  well  to  study  from  a  sociological 
point  of  view.  Let  the  student  of  household  economics, 
whether  practical  or  critical,  carefully  examine  the 
kitchen  of  a  buffet  car  or  of  a  ship  ;  let  them  note 
with  the  dispassionate  eye  of  the  student  what  a  labora- 
tory is,  how  a  store  is  arranged,  the  elements  involved 
in  church  furniture,  school  furniture,  etc.  Let  them 
carefully  note  the  smooth  conveniences  of  a  well-ap- 
pointed club-house  ;  and  then  let  them  return  to  the 
average  drawing-room  or  parlor,  and, — well,  I  think 
meditation  would  ensue. 

Why  does  a  man  prefer  a  leather-covered,  stuffed  easy- 
chair  to  a  rattan  rocker  with  a  pink  ribbon  woven  into 
its  orificial  decoration,  and  a  tidy  pinned  to  its  back? 
The  preference  is  not  a  matter  of  personal  opinion 
merely  ;  nor  is  it  a  matter  of  sex,  necessarily  ; — your 
woman  of  business  does  not  admire  the  cobwebby 
rocking-chair  above  the  smooth  comfort  of  the  other 
one.  The  leather  chair  rests  the  body,  does  not  stick 
to  the  clothes,  does  not  in  any  way  obtrude  itself  upon 
the  notice,  does  not  adhere  to  our  backs  when  we  get 
up,  does  not  tip  over  when  we  touch  it.  The  leather 
chair  is  a  piece  of  true  evolution  rightly  modified  by 
present  needs.  It  is  not  so  nobly  beautiful  as  the 
Greek  chair  or  the  Roman  chair  ;  but  it  is  beautiful  in 
its  right  service  of  existing  man,  and  so,  legitimately 
beautiful,  after  all. 

How  came  to  pass  the  other  thing  with  the  tidy  on 


I20  Household  Economics, 

it  ?  What  evolution  has  bestowed  upon  us  the  museum 
of  tip-overables  in  our  rooms  which  should  breathe 
only  of  rest  and  pleasure  ? 

The  process  is  something  like  this.  The  average 
woman's  life  is  so  spent  in  conflicting  interests  and 
industries  that  she  cannot  develop  any  true  taste  for 
large  truths  of  relation.  She  is  used  to  unrelated  ac- 
tivities and  their  unrelated  utensils ;  used  to  going 
from  stove  to  dish,  from  dish  to  duster,  from  duster  to 
sewing  machine,  with  one  hand  rocking  the  cradle  all 
the  time  ;  and  it  does  not  therefore  distress  her  to  see  a 
ribbon  on  the  parlor  coal  hod,  a  gilded  milking-stool 
painted  with  pansies,  or  a  rolling-pin  covered  with  vel- 
vet. Relation  is  not  in  her  life,  and  she  does  not  feel 
the  need  of  it  in  her  furniture.  She  herself  must  an- 
swer a  multitude  of  needs  ;  why  should  not  the  table 
carry  everything  we  choose  to  put  upon  it  ? 

If  she  were  sensitive  to  the  discord  around  her,  she 
would  die  sooner  than  she  does, — which  is  needless. 
Moreover,  our  women,  in  their  comparatively  sheltered 
lives,  develop  more  of  personality,  whim,  caprice,  pass- 
ing and  changeful  preference, — just  as  children  do, — 
a  thing  that  more  general  life  modifies  in  man. 

It  does  not  occur  to  a  man  to  express  his  personality 
in  his  furniture.  He  does  not  '  *  like  it  this  way  ' '  and 
that  way,  and  the  other  way  ;  and  change  it  about  for 
variety's  sake,  as  she  does.  He  got  it  for  a  purpose  ; 
placed  it  for  a  purpose,  and  uses  it  for  a  purpose  ; 
*  *  liking ' '  it  only  as  it  serves  his  purpose.  Therefore, 
he  does  not  tire  of  it,  and  it  does  not  tire  the  beholder. 

Now  lest  it  may  be  thought  that  I  wish  to  turn 
pleasant  homes  into  a  howling  wilderness  of  leather 
and  hardwood,  let  me  hasten  to  say  that,  within  the 
limits  of  easily  learned  artistic  laws,  this  very  person- 


Furnishing,  121 

ality  and  variability,  the  modification  to  multiple  use 
and  occupancy,  the  teeming  suggestion  of  youth  and 
age,  and  all  sweet,  natural  living, — all  these  are  just  what 
gives  house  furniture  its  charm.  Just  as  woman  her- 
self, comparatively  unspecialized  and  so  still  promising 
all  things,  serving  as  the  artist's  and  the  sculptor's  type 
of  great  thoughts, — standing  for  the  figure  of  Liberty, 
Justice,  Truth — because  she  is  not  too  closely  fitted  for 
a  special  task,  but  expresses  humanity  in  the  abstract ; 
so  our  household  furnishing  which  does  not  speak  of 
work  but  of  rest ;  not  of  concentration  but  of  diffusion  ; 
not  of  where  we  are  going  to  but  of  where  we  came 
from, — breathe  calmness  and  beauty  and  peace. 

Two  things  most  needed  in  our  conception  of  right 
house  furnishing  are  these  :  (i)  The  elimination  of 
all  that  speaks  of  toil.  Home  is  peculiarly  a  place  of 
rest ;  though  the  birthplace  of  all  industries.  All  the 
special  furniture  that  speaks  of  special  task  should 
be  as  far  as  possible  banished,  or  at  least  concealed. 
The  large  relation  of  these  bodies  or  parts  of  bodies 
should  be  considered,  and  the  whole  scheme  speak  of 
the  highest  harmony  with  our  highest  life. 

(2)  A  thing  of  vital  importance,  yet  little  thought 
of.  While  our  home  is  from  the  beginning  and  most 
essentially  "the  place  of  children,"  yet  we  do  not 
either  in  building  or  in  furnishing  allow  for  their  needs 
and  pleasures.  It  is  a  peculiar  oversight,  and  one 
which  will  be  remedied  when  the  household  economist 
has  voice  in  the  choice  or  building  of  the  home  and  its 
furniture.  As  it  is  now,  we  who  were  brought  up  in 
homes  where  our  own  childhood  was  unplanned  for, 
and  who  going  to  the  new  nest,  think  more  of  Cupid 
and  Hymen,  and  possibly  of  Mrs.  Grundy,  than  we 
do  of  the  family  the  home  is  meant  to  shelter,  make  no 


1 2  2  Household  Economics. 

provision  in  our  purchasing  for  the  larger  half  of  the 
occupants.  There  are  more  children  at  any  one  time 
than  there  are  grown  up  people,  we  know, — and  they 
are  more  important.  And  they  are  "  always  with  us." 
Children  as  a  permanent  class  have  yet  to  be  considered, 
but  such  they  undoubtedly  are.  Should  not  then  the 
furnishing  of  the  child's  home — all  the  home  the  child 
ever  has — be  planned  with  some  consideration  of  his 
needs  and  pleasure  ?  As  it  is,  the  most  he  can  hope 
for  is  a  "high  chair  "  to  bring  him  to  the  adult  table, 
— and  possibly  a  little  rocker  to  hug  and  fall  down 
stairs  with. 

The  children  "  must  get  up  off  that  floor,"  of  course, 
for  though  it  is  the  child's  natural  resting  place,  it  is 
not  arranged  for  his  health  and  comfort  ;  they  sit  in 
people's  laps  for  a  while,  or  struggle  about  uneasily  in 
big  chairs  and  sofas,  or  disport  themselves  on  stools 
and  hassocks  under  protest  ;  being  harried  meanwhile 
with  constant  directions  as  to  how  to  sit,  and  reiterated 
commands  to  "  keep  quiet,"  until  they  can  go  out  of 
doors  or  to  bed. 

Even  when  they  are  out  they  are  usually  cautioned 
not  to  sit  on  the  ground,  but  vainly — thank  Heaven  ! 

Now  I  do  not  mean  that  a  human  home  should  be 
furnished  like  a  kindergarten,  but  that  there  should 
be,  so  to  speak,  a  kindergarten  in  every  home  or  near 
one. 

The  child  should  have  his  furniture  as  well  as  we. 
And  furthermore,  knowing  that  our  homes  are  the 
homes  of  children  we  should  not  fill  them  with  articles 
of  constant  temptation  to  the  normal  activities  of  child- 
hood. A  human  home  is  not  a  museum  ;  it  is  a  place 
to  live  in,  peaceably  and  peacefully,  young  and  old, — 
more  especially  the  young. 


Fu  rn  ish  trig.  123 

Fortunately,  this  need  is  being  in  degree  recognized, 
and  furniture  of  good  quality  is  being  made  for  chil- 
dren's use,  from  the  little  enamelled  iron  and  brass 
bed  (the  most  rational  type  of  bedstead),  to  the  small 
bureaux,  tables,  chairs,  and  other  fittings  that  belong 
with  them. 

The  room  in  which  much  living  is  done  ;  living  with 
its  innumerable  modern  demands, — requires  substantial 
as  well  as  beautiful  furniture.  And  no  one  has  better 
given  the  essentials  than  William  Morris,  who  in  an 
essay  on  **  The  Beauty  of  Life  "  in  his  Lectures  on  Art, 
describes  what  he  regards  as  essential  to  the  ordinary 
sitting-room  of  a  healthy  person  : 

"  First,  a  book-case  with  a  great  many  books  in  it ;  next  a 
table  that  will  keep  steady  when  you  write  or  work  at  it ;  then 
several  chairs  that  you  can  move,  and  a  bench  that  you  can  sit 
or  lie  upon ;  next,  a  cupboard  with  drawers  ;  next,  unless  the 
cupboard  or  the  book-case  be  very  beautiful  with  painting  or 
carving,  you  will  want  pictures  or  engravings  such  as  you 
can  afiford — only  not  stop-gaps,  but  real  works  of  art  on  the 
wall ;  or  else  the  wall  itself  must  be  ornamented  with  some 
beautiful  and  restful  pattern  ;  we  shall  also  want  a  vase  or  two 
to  put  flowers  in,  which  latter  you  must  have  sometimes,  espe- 
cially if  you  live  in  a  town.  Then,  there  will  be  the  fire-place  of 
course,  which  in  our  climate  is  bound  to  be  the  chief  object  in 
the  room.  That  is  all  we  shall  want,  especially  if  the  floor  be 
good  ;  if  it  be  not,  as  by  the  way  in  a  modern  house  it  is  pretty 
certain  not  to  be,  I  admit  that  a  small  carpet  which  can  be 
bundled  out  of  the  room  in  two  minutes  will  be  useful,  and  we 
must  also  take  care  that  it  is  beautiful,  or  it  will  annoy  us 
terribly." 

This  last  is  a  trifle  extreme,  but  for  the  rest,  I  think 
we  may  admit  that  both  children  and  their  elders  would 
be  far  more  at  their  ease  if  every  item  were  carried  out 

literally. 


124  Household  Economics. 

I  have  been  in  houses  where  from  top  to  bottom  there 
was  absolutely  not  one  spot  where  one  could  really 
live,  since  beds  were  too  fine  to  lie  upon,  chairs  too 
frail  to  sit  on,  tables  too  shaky  and  uncertain  for  com- 
fortable writing  or  drawing,  and  all  things  over-orna- 
mented, and  generally  calculated  to  spoil  temper  and 
shorten  life.  Can  we  suppose  the  child  with  his  sensi- 
tive organization  is  not  tormented  and  hampered  in  the 
same  way  ?  For  them,  if  for  no  other  reason,  we  need 
to  study  the  laws  of  furnishing  and  give  them  models 
that  will  form  taste  and  make  cheap  vulgarity  ever 
more  impossible. 

There  is  often  more  art  in  a  cheap  woodcut  or  proc- 
ess reproduction,  than  in  miles  of  the  high-colored 
horrors  that  do  duty  as  pictures.  Good  art  in  photo- 
graph, engraving,  etching  and  cast  is  possible  for  all. 
It  needs  only  the  educated  sense,  and  towards  that  we 
approximate  more  and  more  each  year.  We  shall 
study  it  by  and  by  with  delight. 

The  factor  of  mobility,  not  only  in  the  evolution  of 
furniture  but  also  in  our  relation  to  it,  is  an  important 
one  to  the  student.  Remembering  the  principle  that 
the  value  of  human  production  is  in  proportion  to  its 
durability  and  usability, — to  the  number  of  people 
who  can  use  a  thing  and  the  thing  for  which  they 
can  use  it, — we  see  that  the  value  of  a  special  arti- 
cle of  furniture  is  greatly  limited  by  personality.  If  a 
person  is  peculiarly  shaped,  and  his  chair  is  peculiarly 
shaped  to  fit  him,  the  chair  is  less  valuable  as  a  chair  ; 
it  would  sell  for  less  at  an  auction.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  would  cost  more  to  have  it  made  and  it  is  of  far  more 
value  to  him  by  reason  of  its  very  peculiarity. 

There  is  a  line  to  be  drawn  here  in  reference  to 
personality.     If  we  do  one  kind  of  work  and  are  accus- 


Furn  is  king,  125 

tomed  to  one  tool  only,  there  grows  up  a  certain  inti- 
mate relationship  between  that  tool  and  ourselves  which 
greatly  adds  to  its  usefulness.  But  should  we  lose 
it  and  be  forced  to  use  a  slightly  different  tool,  the 
change  detracts  from  our  usefulness.  To  have  our 
comfort  or  our  power  depend  on  our  own  special  furni- 
ture may  thus  be  thought  to  be  a  limitation  of  use  in 
the  line  of  racial  retrogression. 

This  statement  has  its  limitations.  Merely  mechan- 
cal  work  may  change  its  tools  at  will,  though  it  is 
found  that  the  more  skill  enters  in,  the  more  the  work- 
man inclines  to  his  own  tool.  When  it  comes  to  the 
higher  realm  where  art  speaks,  we  do  not  need  to 
recall  what  the  Stradivarius  means  to  the  violinist, 
every  fibre  in  it  the  spirit  of  past  music  and  the  prom- 
ise of  more  exquisite  tone  to  come.  For  the  literary 
worker,  his  own  desk,  his  own  pen,  are  a  part  of  the 
ease  of  expression,  and  the  pen  seems  often  to  have 
taken  on  powers  of  its  own.  And  so,  up  to  a  certain 
point,  we  have  the  right  to  hold  to  our  own  and  recog- 
nize the  spiritual  significance  of  our  own.  Subtle 
essences  that  man  will  presently  analyze  and  know, 
have  passed  into  all  that  we  use,  no  less  than  into  the 
very  walls  of  our  houses.  The  ' '  sensitive  ' '  knows  on 
entering  a  room  the  quality  of  the  occupants,  past  and 
present,  and  this  power  for  the  few  is  the  guaranty, 
not  only  of  like  power  to  come  for  others,  but  of  a 
knowledge  that  will  in  time  make  all  dwellings  holy, 
and  every  vessel  fit  for  sacramental  wine. 

When  these  laws  and  principles  are  better  under- 
stood, we  shall  find  life  a  nobler,  sweeter,  easier  process. 
The  child  surrounded  by  beauty  and  order  will  grow 
up  smoother  and  rounder  in  character,  less  irritated 
and  rubbed  awry.     The  adult  living  among  orderly 


126  Household  Economics. 

and  beautiful  forms,  all  peacefully  serving  their  uses, 
will  find  a  clear  atmosphere,  either  for  work  or  rest, — 
and  the  improved  grade  of  humanity  so  fostered  will 
manifest  itself  in  kindred  improvement  in  every  other 
branch  of  sociologic  progress. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY   AND   RKFERENCKS. 

"  House  Furnishing,"  by  Mary  Gay  Humphreys.    The  Woman's 

Book,  chap.  XV. 
The  Home  Life  of  the  Greeks  a?id  Romans,  by  Kuhl  and  Koner, 

chapter  on  furniture. 
**  Furniture,"  by  Clarence  Cook.     Sa'ibner's  Magazine,  vol.  x., 

p.  i6i  ;  vol.  ii.,  pp.  342,  809  ;  vol.  xii.,  pp.  168,  796. 
"Furniture,"    by    Philip    Gilbert    Hamerton.      M acmillan' s 

Magazine,  vol.  viii.,  p.  138. 
"The  Art  of  Furnishing,"  Cornhill,  vol.  xxxi.,  p.  535. 
"  Good  and  Bad  Furniture."    All  the  Year  Round,  vol.  xxviii., 

p.  42. 
Arts  and  Crafts  Essays,  1893. 
Wood  Carvings  and  Furniture  in  the  Style  Louis  XV. y  by  A. 

Hoffmann. 
Furniture,  by  F.  S.  Meyer. 

Practical  Decorative  Upholstery,  by  F.  A.  Moreland. 
A  History  of  Furniture,  by  Albert  Jacquemart.    Trans,  from 

the  French,  and  edited  by  Mrs.  Bury  Palliser. 
The  Claims  of  Decorative  Art,  by  Walter  Crane. 
Polychromatic  Decoration  as  Applied  to  Buildings  in  the  Med- 

icsval  Styles,  by  W.  and  G.  Audsley. 
Household  Art,  edited  by  Candace  Wheeler. 
Illustrated  History  of  Furjiiture,  by  Frederick  Litchfield. 
Colonial  Furjiiture  of  New  Englaud,  by  Irving  Whitall  Lyon. 
Furnishing  and  Decoration,  by  G.  F.  Armytage.     American 

Architect,  vol.  xviii.,  p.  116. 
Domestic  Furniture,  by  G.  T.  Robinson.    Art  Journal,  vol. 
xxxvi.,  p.  373. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

HOUSEHOLD  INDUSTRIES. 

Structure  and  Function — Functional  Development  of  Society 
and  Domestic  Industries — Order  of  Appearance  of  Domes- 
tic Industries  and  Progress  toward  Higher  Specialization — 
Relation  of  Work  to  Worker — Effect  of  Special  Industries 
on  Body  and  Mind — Exercise  more  Important  than  Envi- 
ronment ;  Action  than  Reaction — The  Division  of  I^abor — 
Sex  in  Industry — Distinction  one  of  Degree,  not  of  Kind — 
Jane-of-all-Trades — Arrested  Development  and  Suppressed 
Specialization — Effect  of  Racial  Growth — Present  Condi- 
tion of  Domestic  Industries  in  Relation  to  SocialjEconomy 
and  Personal  Development — The  Two  Remaining  Func- 
tions, Nutritive  and  Excretory. 

WE  have  come  now  to  the  second  division  of  our 
work  together. 

In  the  first  lecture  I  spoke  of  this  course 
as  treating  of  the  statistics  and  dynamics  of  household 
economy,  or  more  closely,  of  the  structure  and  func- 
tions of  the  household.  The  preceding  six  lectures 
cover  the  structure  from  the  house  in  its  relation  to  the 
earth's  surface,  to  the  last  touch  of  furniture  and 
decoration  in  its  relation  to  the  human  body  and  the 
human  soul.  In  the  remaining  six  lectures  we  shall 
study  the  functions  of  this  household  organism  ;  those 
activities  on  which  it  is  conditioned, — without  which  it 
would  not  exist. 

127 


128  Household  Eco7tornics. 

No  part  of  our  subject  so  plainly  shows  the  relation 
of  household  economics  to  social  economics, — the  latter 
in  all  its  varied  development  being  the  natural  outcome 
of  the  former. 

We  are  apt  to  speak  of  the  home  as  the  unit  of  the 
state  ;  it  is  not  that  in  our  accepted  sense  at  all,  but  it 
is  the  parent  of  the  state ;  or,  more  properly,  the  seed 
from  which  that  mighty  tree  sprang  first  and  from 
which  it  is  constantly  renewed. 

The  state  and  its  economy  is  the  larger  and  higher 
form  of  living,  resultant  from  the  household  and  its 
economy  ;  and  they  interact  one  upon  another  unceas- 
ingly. All  the  activities  and  affections  which  maintain 
social  life  had  their  origin  in  domestic  life  ;  all  the  mag- 
nificent work  now  done  by  men  together  for  the  service 
of  the  world  was  once  done  by  men  apart  for  the  ser- 
vice of  their  own  homes. 

Before  following  this  line  more  closely,  let  us  look 
for  a  moment  at  the  functional  nature  of  society  itself, 
to  see  what  is  its  reason  for  being.  In  the  economic 
sense,  society  is  an  organism  built  on  the  same  plan  and 
for  the  same  purpose  as  any  other  organism  ;  namely, 
by  co-ordinate  service  and  relation  to  secure  more  food 
with  less  exertion,  and  so  set  free  nervous  energy  for 
higher  development.  More  safety  also  is  a  primal  ob- 
ject ;  more  shelter ;  the  saving  of  labor.  Society  is 
just  such  a  convenience  to  people  as  a  comfortable 
body,  with  teeth  and  claws  and  warm  fur  is  to  poor 
huddled  masses  of  primordial  cells.  Its  evolution  follows 
that  same  agreeable  formula  we  know  so  well ;  finding  in 
the  savage  state  its  condition  of  *'  indefinite  incoherent 
homogeneit}^,"  and  in  our  manifold  subtle  ties  of  sub- 
divided labor,  each  man  doing  his  fractional  share  in  the 
great  concert,  its  "  definite  coherent  heterogeneity." 


Household  Industries.  129 

This  process  in  society  has  been  identical  with  the 
process  in  the  single  organism — the  cells,  combining, 
assume  varied  place  and  work,  and  so  develop  a  high 
degree  of  special  power  by  virtue  of  the  division  of 
labor  and  exchange  of  product.  And  as  in  the  lower 
organism  the  primal  functions  are  simple,  long  consist- 
ing only  of  the  external  and  internal  processes  of  nu- 
trition,— so  society's  main  business  at  first  was  the 
gathering  and  distributing  of  food.  The  little  organ- 
ism, pressed  by  conditions,  developed  organs  of  defence 
and  offence.  So  did  society  ;  and  primitive  society, 
like  other  low  forms  of  life,  lived  in  incessant  warfare, 
having  its  analogy  in  the  industrial  warfare  of  to-day. 

The  highly  developed  organism,  with  its  subtle  in- 
terplay of  function,  its  elaborate  plan  and  perfect 
accord  in  action,  its  intense  activitj'  of  special  sense, 
with  its  high  value,  is  perfectly  paralleled  by  a  civilized 
society,  where  a  thousand  industries  serve  one  another, 
and  the  highly  specialized  arts  and  professions  lead  and 
direct  the  industries. 

In  this  process  the  household  leads  the  world  in  the 
sense  of  coming  first, — not  in  the  sense  of  keeping 
ahead.  On  the  contrary-,  it  remains  far  behind,  and 
at  present  fails  largely  of  its  use  to  society  because  of 
its  retarded  industrial  development. 

Primarily,  when  the  state  was  not,  the  family  was 
the  state ;  a  small  and  necessarily  limited  form  of  gov- 
ernment, but  essential  to  begin  with.  Within  its  little 
round  came  into  being  the  parent  arts  and  crafts  :  all 
those  incipient  industries,  fictile,  textile,  and  the  others, 
— the  constructive  industry  of  man  applied  to  the  ma- 
terials around  him  ;  wood,  stone,  straw,  clay,  skin  and 
fibre,  metal  and  mineral. 

To  transmute  the  outside  world  into  humanness, — 


1 30  Household  Economics, 

to  turn  these  varied  constituents  into  new  forms,  mak- 
ing them  part  of  the  organic  structure  of  humanity, 
and  part  of  a  higher  and  more  complex  nutrition, — this 
is  the  use  of  human  industry,  and  it  began  at  home. 
Also  the  woman  began  it.  Representing,  as  she  does, 
the  anabolic  or  constructive  energy  in  nature,  it  is 
natural  that  she  should  begin  to  produce  new  forms  of 
food  and  clothes  and  shelter  ;  creating  and  conserving, 
while  yet  the  man  followed  only  his  primal  tendency, 
the  katabolic, — to  destroy  and  waste. 

Drummond  has  shown  us  how  the  mother's  love  is 
mother  to  all  love — to  all  the  human  feeling  that  makes 
our  life  possible.  We  have  further  to  see  how  the 
mother's  industry  is  parent  to  all  industry.  The  same 
spirit  that  urges  the  mud-wasp  to  enclose  insects  with 
her  eggs  that  the  new-made  bab}^  grub  may  have  to  eat, 
and  that  drives  the  multitude  of  ants  and  bees, — co- 
operative mothers  all, — to  toil  endlessly  to  provide  for 
the  coming  young, — this  it  is  which  has  grown  into 
the  father's  heart  from  the  mother's  and  that  now  fills 
the  granaries  and  warehouses  of  the  world. 

Similarly,  too,  the  first  human  industries  are  of  ex- 
actly the  same  order  as  the  animal  ones  ;  methods  of 
obtaining  and  preserving  food.  The  very  first, — get- 
ting food, — still  finds  its  expression  in  the  great  primal 
industry  of  fishing.  Hunting  as  an  industry  is  not 
worth  mentioning  now.  It  remains  with  us  only  in 
the  form  of  a  "  sport "  ;  a  depraved  survival  of  a  low 
exercise.  Keeping  food  alive,  the  next  stage,  devel- 
oped into  the  pastoral  era  of  humanity,  and  still  sur- 
vives in  our  vast  and  complex  enginery  of  meat  supply. 
Then  came  agriculture,  first  practised  in  relation  to  the 
home,  and  growing  to  our  world  market  of  production 
and  distribution.    Women  began  it  to  feed  their  young. 


Household  Industries,  1 3 1 

This  is  the  limit  of  our  food-supplying  industries. 
There  are  no  more  things  to  eat,  and  their  higher 
development  as  social  industries  rests  on  their  extra- 
domestic  exchange  and  distribution. 

The  abundant  and  preservable  supplies  of  food  which 
agriculture  brought  demanded  vessels,  bins,  store- 
houses,— and  these  all  began  in  the  patient  labors  of 
the  savage  mother  for  her  young.  The  original  selec- 
tion and  construction  of  shelter,  both  for  family  and 
stores,  was  hers  also,  with  all  its  growth  into  archi- 
tecture ;  and  the  meeting  of  primitive  domestic  needs, 
in  furniture  as  in  utensils,  gave  rise  to  all  our  varied 
manufactures  in  those  lines.  Clothing  was  for  long 
her  absolute  field  ;  but  that,  too,  is  now  a  world  indus- 
try, as  it  should  be. 

The  higher  and  more  varied  arts  and  sciences,  not 
to  be  traced  directly  to  the  home,  are  but  further  differ- 
entiations of  energy  along  lines  of  work  which  did  start 
there.  Ship-building  and  commerce,  for  instance,  arose 
from  the  superfluity  of  food  produced  with  the  develop- 
ment of  agriculture  and  from  the  preservation  of  that 
food  for  future  or  distant  use.  Similarly,  the  physi- 
cian is  as  direct  an  evolution  from  the  savage  mother 
nursing  her  child,  as  is  the  chef  or  the  chemist  from 
her  humble  processes  of  cooking. 

The  law  of  evolution  works  in  industry,  art,  science, 
language,  religion, — everything  that  lives  ;  and  all  hu- 
man life  began,  as  it  still  begins,  at  home. 

No  wonder  we  love  the  word.  It  has  more  in  it  than 
the  wildest  sentimentalist  has  dreauied  of  yet ;  so  much 
more  that  our  ordinary  attitude  toward  it,  compared 
with  what  it  should  be,  is  one  of  gross  disrespect. 
Nevertheless,  let  us  remember  that  its  value  is  as  a 
place  of  birth  of  all  these  things, — and  that  the  home 


132  Household  Economics. 

of  to-day  is  shorn  of  half  its  dignity  and  power  by  our 
forced  retention  and  restriction  of  certain  industries 
therein — industries  long  since  ready  for  higher  devel- 
opment. 

As  these  industries  appeared  in  the  household,  one 
by  one,  budding  out  from  within,  so  they  grew  out 
and  away  from  it,  falling  into  the  hands  of  man,  who 
is  the  natural  avenue  of  specialization,  in  that  his  ge- 
neric functions  do  not  keep  him,  as  the  woman's  keep 
her,  necessarily  more  potential.  Take  one  branch,  for 
instance — say  the  making  of  vessels,  the  potter's  art. 
The  primitive  woman  made  for  her  family  uses  primi- 
tive vessels,  of  primitive  materials,  for  primitive  needs. 
Alone,  she  could  do  no  more ;  and  the  primal  mother 
was  necessarily  alone.  The  evolution  of  an  art  re- 
quires, like  every  other  evolution,  more  than  the  mere 
repetition  of  individual  efforts.  It  requires  w4th  each 
step  of  advance,  co-ordination  more  and  more  com- 
plete, and  such  accumulation  of  energy  and  material 
as  shall  make  experiment  possible.  The  higher  or- 
ganism can  make  experiments  that  would  destroy  the 
lower  ;  can  sustain  exertions  and  bear  extremes.  It 
has  larger  margin,  and  therefore  larger  gains.  Hence 
these  liberal  arts  grew  out  from  their  individual  func- 
tion and  became  social  functions  ;  sometimes  retaining 
a  hold  in  the  earlier  place,  and  sometimes  not. 

Agriculture  remains  partly  special  at  the  same  time 
that  it  is  so  infinitely  general  ;  the  same  farmer  may 
raise  food  for  his  family  while  he  also  raises  food  for 
"  the  market "  ;  but  few  families  make  their  own  dishes 
or  their  own  shoes.  The  progress  from  the  coarse  clay 
bowl  of  the  primitive  woman  to  all  our  marvels  and 
mysteries  of  Dresden,  Satsuma,  and  Royal  Worcester, 
is  one  which  requires  constant  division  of  labor  and 


Household  Industries,  133 

co-ordinate  service;  a  progress  which  demands  the 
special  place  to  work  in,  tools  to  work  with,  and  life 
to  work.  Each  industry  must  be  separated  from  the 
others  and  pursued  by  itself  with  united  effort  by  many 
people  before  it  can  become  great. 

Even  where  the  pursuit  is  followed  at  home,  as  in 
many  Oriental  products,  the  specialization  is  there, 
growing  from  father  to  son  in  long  lines  of  cumulating 
excellence,  and  carefully  preserved  from  cross  currents 
of  other  occupation.  Here  comes  in  a  question  of  ab- 
sorbing interest ;  one  just  beginning  to  dawn  on  the 
social  economist,  and  coming  home  to  the  household 
economist  with  profound  importance, — namely,  the  re- 
lation of  work  to  the  worker  ;  the  effects  of  special 
industries  upon  body  and  mind. 

In  its  superficial  form,  this  question  is  brought  before 
us  in  the  increasing  discontent  of  labor  the  world  over, 
and  in  our  own  branch  of  study  in  the  increasing  dis- 
content of  women  with  their  special  labor  in  the  home. 
No  scientific  analysis,  that  I  know  of,  has  been  made 
of  this  subject ;  no  inquiry  into  the  deeper  significance 
of  this  wide  revolt  against  given  forms  of  labor,  the 
expression  women  chiefly  notice  being  in  domestic 
service. 

The  moralist  replies  loudly  to  the  effect  that  the  more 
disagreeable  a  thing  is  the  better  it  is  for  us  ;  and  the 
scientist  contents  himself  with  some  muttered  remarks 
about  the  "struggle  for  existence"  and  the  "survival 
of  the  fittest." 

Let  us  make  a  distinction  here  which  we  need  in  our 
special  study,  and  which  may  be  a  boon  to  the  social 
economist.  It  is  this  :  The  organic  activities  of  society 
are  only  a  struggle  for  existence,  in  the  sense  that  the 
activities  of  our  heart,  lungs,  and  liver  are  a  struggle 


1 3 4  Household  Economics, 

for  existence.  The  smooth  and  orderl}^  interaction  of 
social  industries  is  as  important  to  our  social  existence 
as  a  good  digestion  and  respiration  are  important  to 
our  existence.  When  we  breathe  with  difficulty  or 
digest  with  pain,  we  do  not  dismiss  the  fact  airily  as 
part  of  the  struggle  for  existence,  and  leave  the  sur- 
vival of  lungs  or  stomach  to  take  care  of  itself  The 
harmonious  development  of  industry  is  of  vital  impor- 
tance to  the  life  of  society,  and  we  should  attend  care- 
fully to  its  processes. 

That  for  the  scientist.  For  the  moralist  this  :  He 
says  that  all  labor  is  honorable  ;  that  it  makes  no  dif- 
ference what  we  do,  if  only  we  do  it  in  the  right  spirit  ; 
and  to  women  especially,  that  the  nobility  of  their  task 
fully  counterbalances  any  ignobility  of  methods.  To 
which  let  us  reply  that  labor  is  a  human  function,  that 
function  makes  organ,  that  organ  is  developed  accord- 
ing to  exercise,  that  exercise  is  what  modifies  us  most ; 
— that  what  we  do  makes  us  what  we  are. 

We  have  been  studying  the  effect  of  material  sur- 
roundings upon  character,  and  find  it  to  be  deep  and 
constant ;  but  man  is  modified  far  more  by  exertion 
than  by  environment.  To  be  surrounded  by  beauty 
and  right  construction  is  of  value  ;  but  far  more  valua- 
ble is  it  to  make  things  beautiful  and  right.  Better 
make  palaces  and  live  in  a  hut  than  to  make  huts  and 
live  in  a  palace.  Better  make  beautiful  garments  and 
live  in  rags,  than  to  wear  beautiful  garments  and  make 
rags.  Action  is  stronger  than  reaction  on  the  human 
soul.  The  slow  effect  of  right  surroundings  does  not 
compare  with  the  quick  effect  of  right  doing. 

With  these  facts  in  view,  let  us  see  if  the  kind  or  de- 
gree of  industry  practised  by  a  himian  creature  is  of  no 
importance.     Does  it  make  no  difference  to  a  man's 


Household  Industries,  135 

character  whether  he  be  a  butcher  or  a  shepherd? 
Whether  he  is  a  soldier,  or  a  tailor,  or  a  priest  ?  Take 
that  one  familiar  instance  of  the  soldier.  Here  is  a 
number  of  men  widely  dissimilar  in  birth  and  early 
training,  taken  when  full  grown  and  already  showing 
marked  divergence.  They  are  forced  to  undergo  the 
same  conditions  and  perform  the  same  actions  for  a 
period  of  years.  Result,  the  soldier,  a  sub-species 
oi ge7ius  homo,  most  marked  in  character,  physical  and 
mental,  easy  to  recognize  and  describe.  Let  it  be  said 
in  passing,  that  the  reason  this  can  be  done  so  well  with 
the  soldier  is  that  the  traits  required  are  those  common 
to  primal  humanity  ;  save  the  obedience  and  cleanliness, 
and  these  are  perceptibly  essential  and  violently  en- 
forced. It  is  a  case  of  reversion  ;  a  crushing  back  of 
the  frailer  but  higher  development  of  society  into  dense 
early  form  for  definite  use  ;  noble  and  not  to  be  lost 
sight  of,  as  is  the  case  with  all  primal  functions. 

That  which  produces  the  soldier  produces  also  the 
merchant,  the  mechanic,  and  the  cook.  The  work 
makes  the  man,  other  conditions  being  equal.  Not 
only  does  the  kind  of  work  affect  the  worker,  but  its 
degree.  And  this  is  where  our  household  industries 
are  involved  most  closely.  The  moralist  who  speaks 
so  beautifully  of  the  lofty  rank  of  these  labors  of  the 
home,  is  right  and  wrong  in  the  same  breath. 

All  functional  processes  of  humanity  are  essential, 
and  so  noble.  Their  rank, — if  they  have  any, — de- 
pends on  which  wa}^  we  count.  The  stomach  is  the 
oldest  in  the  bod}-,  the  kitchen  is  the  oldest  in  humanity. 
Are  they  therefore  noblest?  The  highly  specialized 
brain  is  the  latest  in  the  body,  the  highly  specialized 
administration  the  latest  in  humanity.  Are  they 
therefore  least  noble?     Is   the  instant  provision  for 


136  Household  Econom  ics. 

immediate  and  special  needs  a  nobler  task  than  the 
provision  for  ultimate  and  general  needs  ?  Is  the  work 
of  the  cook  really  superior  to  that  of  the  statesman  ? 

Ought  we  not  to  cease  prating  of  nobility  in  labor  ; 
see  that  all  is  essential  ;  recognize  that  man's  path 
leads  upward  and  that  all  functions  must  be  lifted  with 
him  ?  And  as  the  more  primitive  forms  of  labor  come 
from  the  primitive  mind  in  primitive  conditions,  so 
does  the  preservation  of  those  forms  tend  to  preserve 
the  order  of  mind  that  produced  them. 

All  labor  began  simply  in  individual  hands  ;  and  all 
labor  progresses  by  division.  The  division  of  labor 
and  its  pursuance  by  the  specialist  lifts  it  into  place  in 
the  social  organism. 

Too  high  specialization  is  a  danger  which  w^e  need 
not  at  present  discuss,  as  it  never  has  come  within  a 
thousand  miles  of  household  industries.  Our  danger 
is  the  other  way.  Those  forms  of  labor  which  still 
remain  with  us,  remain  in  a  condition  of  arrested 
development  and  suppressed  specialization,  which  is 
alike  injurious  to  the  individual  and  to  society.  Div- 
ision of  labor  is  twofold  :  it  consists  not  only  in  the 
number  of  individuals  engaged  in  it,  but  also  in  the 
minor  parts  into  Vv^hich  the  labor  itself  is  divided.  The 
only  degree  in  which  this  can  be  practised  in  domestic 
industries  is  where  the  united  energies  of  the  entire 
family  are  occupied  in  the  same  task,  as  in  harvesting, 
or  where  each  is  allotted  a  part  of  the  same  task,  as  in 
the  combined  effort  to  prepare  a  Thanksgiving  dinner. 

Another  and  equally  important  factor  in  the  develop- 
ment of  industry  is  rigorously  limited  in  the  house- 
hold ;  that  which  elevates  a  work  in  proportion  to  the 
number  it  is  done  for.  Indeed,  w^e  might  formulate 
as  follows  :  Human  industry  is  developed  in  proportion 


Household  Indiistries.  137 

to  the  number  it  is  done  by  and  the  number  it  is  done 
for. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  effort  of  self-defence — "Na- 
ture's first  law."  It  is  natural,  necessary,  and  so 
noble,  if  you  like  ;  but  low  in  the  evolutionary  and 
the  moral  sense.  The  defence  of  one's  family  at  loss 
to  oneself,  is  a  higher  and  more  valuable  form  of  the 
same  feeling  ;  and  the  defence  of  our  country,  even  at 
a  loss  to  our  families,  is  higher  and  more  valuable 
still.  The  greater  includes  the  less.  The  whole  is 
more  important  than  the  part. 

The  only  grading  to  be  used  in  regard  to  labor  is 
the  evolutionary  one.  Labor  is  low  or  high  in  pro- 
portion to  its  degree  of  development,  and  that  is  to  be 
measured  by  our  formula  of  value  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  people  it  is  done  by  and  the  number  of 
people  it  is  done  for. 

There  is  no  break  in  the  line  of  industrial  evolution 
from  the  savage  spearing  a  salmon  to  the  United  States 
Fisheries  Commission  ;  but  it  is  a  higher  grade  of 
labor  to  work  for  the  national  fisheries  than  to  go  a- 
fishing  for  one's  own  individual  pleasure  or  profit. 

Kvolution  has  but  one  rank  :  that  of  progress  ;  and 
progress  is  from  within  outward  and  from  below  up- 
ward ;  from  the  simple  to  the  complex,  from  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  general,  from  the  private  to  the  public. 

Our  aversion  to  what  we  call  * '  selfishness  "  is  an 
instinctive  recognition  of  the  low  grade  of  mere 
private  interest. 

The  evolution  of  industry  is  the  evolution  of 
humanity.  The  grade  of  labor  is  its  station  on  the 
line  of  evolution  ;  and  any  form  or  degree  of  labor 
which  belongs  to  a  lower  period  of  human  evolution 
is  de-grading. 


J 


8  Household  Economics, 


Again,  our  instinct  is  truer  than  our  supposed  moral- 
ity ;  we  are  right  in  saying  "  I  won't  demean  myself  by 
such  work." 

Were  w^omen  once  to  reahze  the  underlying  ethical 
force  and  quality  of  this  protest,  it  would  be  the  first 
step  toward  combination  fo^  the  performance  of  some 
tasks,  done  now  imperfectly  and  painfully  by  unskilled 
and  degrading  labor.  Trained  intelligence  has  small 
chance  or  place  in  the  scheme  of  the  average  house- 
wife, and  this  alw^ays  iecurring  resolution,  "  I  won't 
demean  myself  by  such  work,"  is  regarded  as  purest 
insubordination  and  unjustifiable  discontent. 

For  the  individual  protestor,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
this  is  often  true.  For  the  mass  it  is  the  voice  of  half 
stifled  evolution,  which  yet  in  spite  of  us  goes  its  ap- 
pointed way,  and,  with  or  without  our  consent,  in  due 
time  will  reach  its  goal. 

Here,  we  are  forced  to  consider  the  peculiar  distinc- 
tion of  sex  in  industry',  which,  so  far,  is  mainly  one  of 
degree  rather  than  of  kind.  All  industries,  as  we  have 
seen,  began  with  w^oman  ;  and  those  w^hich  have  stayed 
with  her  have  stayed  where  they  began.  She  does  all 
kinds  of  w^ork,  but  she  does  it  in  the  first  degree. 
Only  recently  has  woman  entered  upon  the  road  of  in- 
dustrial evolution,  in  teaching,  for  instance, — one  of 
the  mother  functions, — differentiating,  specializing,  ad- 
vancing to  its  true  place  in  modern  civilization.  But 
household  industries  remain  perforce  in  the  first  degree. 
The  structure  of  the  house  has  increased  in  complexity 
on  natural  lines,  because  its  making  has  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  man  and  become  highly  specialized  to  match 
our  lives  ;  but  the  functions  of  the  house  have  not  so 
increased  in  specialization.  The  house  itself  and  all 
its  contents  is  now  made  by  the  many  for  the  manj^  ; 


Household  Industries,  1 39 

but  the  industries  of  the  household  are  still  practiced 
by  the  few  for  the  few.  And  the  distinction  is  drawn 
sharply  on  sex  lines. 

The  sociologist  might  follow  here  a  delightfully  in- 
teresting line  of  research, — bringing  ethnology,  an- 
thropology, physiology,  biology,  and  psychology  to  his 
aid  ;  but  we  will  merely  indicate  the  facts  without 
wandering  too  far  afield  after  cause  and  effect.  What 
we  wish  to  consider  is  the  degree  of  development  of 
household  industry  ; — its  effects  on  the  home  and 
through  it  on  the  world  :  on  woman  and  through  her 
on  the  race. 

The  industries  of  the  household  are  still  practised  by 
members  of  the  household  in  so  large  a  proportion  of 
our  homes  as  to  make  it  the  general  condition  ;  and 
otherwise  they  are  practised  by  persons  hired  to  take 
the  place  of  members  of  the  famil}', — a  phase  of  the 
subject  to  be  considered  in  the  lecture  on  service.  Here 
it  is  sufficient  to  premise  that  labor  done  by  prox}^  is 
not  labor  advanced.  To  hire  a  man  to  go  a-fishing  for 
you  while  you  loaf,  is  not  a  step  nearer  the  United 
States  Fisheries  Commission.  The  only  division  of 
labor  in  the  household  is  our  partial  attempt  to  separate 
its  component  industries, — as  when  we  distinguish  be- 
tween cook  and  laundress,  and  even,  in  wealth}-  fam- 
ilies, admit  of  assistants  in  their  several  tasks.  This, 
however,  is  no  further  along  than  when  the  castellan 
had  among  his  retainers  armorer  and  armorer's  assist- 
ant, chaplain  and  herald  and  praiseful  bard, — it  is  one 
step  beyond  Robinson  Crusoe  and  his  man  Friday,  and 
that  is  all. 

In  the  enormous  majority  of  cases,  however,  our 
women  "do  their  own  w^ork,"  while  those  in  next 
largest  proportion  hire  a  * '  maid  of  all  work  "  to  do  it 


1 40  Household  Economics, 

for  them.  The  work,  as  work,  remains  at  the  stage  of 
development  which  can  permit  of  such  compound  per- 
formance. Again,  the  popular  sense  speaks  true  : 
"Jack  of  all  trades  and  master  of  none."  The  house- 
hold laborer  is  necessarily  that. 

Study  for  a  moment  the  inevitableness  of  it.  Here 
is  a  cluster  of  allied  industries  practised  in  the  house- 
hold :  cooking,  washing,  repairing,  nursing,  teaching, 
sewing.  Each  of  these  is  a  great  social  function  capa- 
ble of  high  evolution.  As  soon  as  any  one  of  them 
grows  to  a  degree  which  requires  more  time,  strength, 
and  attention  than  another,  that  other  must  suffer. 
They  are  all  constantly  tending  upward  and  outward, 
like  the  rest  of  living  things,  yet  the  sum  of  their  prog- 
ress must  be  measured  by  the  sum  of  the  multiple 
operator's  power,  and  their  relative  progress  measured 
by  the  varying  demands  of  the  family. 

Thus,  in  some  families  more  sewing  is  required,  in 
others  more  cooking,  in  others  more  nursing  ;  and  these 
demands  vary  in  the  same  family  as  the  years  pass. 

Therefore,  the  development  and  specialization  of  the 
human  brain,  which  keeps  exact  pace  with  the  prog- 
ress of  these  external  forms  of  human  life,  is  checked 
and  limited  on  every  side  ;  and  kept  in  a  swaying, 
negative  condition,  which  allows  life  in  the  worker  and 
performance,  of  a  sort,  in  the  work, — but  no  further 
progress  in  either.  '  *  Jack  of  all  trades  ' '  must  be  ' '  mas- 
ter of  none ' '  ;  and  his  trades  remain  in  abeyance  as 
does  his  mastership. 

Think  for  a  moment  of  the  effect  of  this  condition  on 
our  racial  growth, — remembering  that  it  is  not  distrib- 
uted indifferently  among  the  people,  but  confined  almost 
absolutely  to  that  half  the  world  which,  through  moth- 
erhood, modifies  all  the  world.     This  continuous  half, 


Household  Industries,  1 4 1 

with  its  unceasing  and  unbounded  effect  on  all,  is  kept 
in  a  condition  of  arrested  development  and  suppressed 
specialization  industrially,  which  means  a  similar  con- 
dition mentally.  It  is  an  amorphous,  low  grade  indus- 
trial state  in  half  of  us,  carried  on  at  the  same  time  with 
a  sharply  defined,  high  grade  industrial  state  in  the 
the  other  half.  The  effect  on  the  individual  human  or- 
ganism is  to  retard  mental  development  and  action, 
and  on  the  social  organism  to  retard  industrial  devel- 
opment and  action. 

At  each  step  in  statements  of  this  order,  we  face  that 
blank  wall  between  women  and  true  progress  erected 
chiefly  by  their  own  hands  and  bearing  at  intervals 
such  mottoes  as  '  *  Blessed  be  Drudgery  ' '  ;  and  all  the 
long  list  of  kindred  sentiments,  ingrained  by  repetition 
and  custom  in  the  very  fibre  of  women.  Because  a  thing 
is  hard  we  are  instantly  inclined  to  think  its  doing  an 
added  virtue  and  to  secretly  plume  ourselves  on 
another  specimen  of  feminine  self-sacrifice.  In  fact  we 
should  blush  for  shame  that  in  the  process  of  the  suns, 
we  have  learned  so  little,  and  that  the  shiftlessness  of 
public  housekeeping  at  the  hands  of  our  men  is  merely 
the  reflection  of  our  own  unthinking,  unreasoning 
methods  in  life  and  work.  And  if  you  think  this  mere 
denunciation  on  my  part,  turn  to  Mr.  Ward's  Dy^iamic 
Sociology  and,  in  his  section  on  Woman,  learn  what 
she  has  done  and  failed  to  do  as  the  sober  scientist 
sees  it. 

As  to  the  effect  of  these  methods  I  shall  quote  here 
some  lines  by  a  woman  whose  powers  of  sarcasm  are 
only  equalled  by  her  superb  good  sense,  her  insight  and 
sympathy, — Charlotte  Perkins  Stetson, — reminding 
first  those  of  you  who  may  never  have  thought  of  doing 
such  sum,  that,  to  prepare  the  simplest  meal  for  a  family, 


142  Household  Economics, 

means  not  less  than  two  hours  of  work,  this  being  from 
its  inception  to  the  final  clearing  away  and  cleaning. 

*'Six  hours  a  day  the  woman  spends  on  food  ! 
Six  mortal  hours  a  day. 

With  fire  and  water  toiling,  heat  and  cold — 
Struggling  with  laws  she  does  not  understand 
Of  chemistry  and  physics,  and  the  weight 
Of  poverty  and  ignorance  besides. 
Toiling  for  those  she  loves,  the  added  strain 
Of  tense  emotion  on  her  humble  skill. 
The  sensitiveness  born  of  love  and  fear 
Making  it  harder  to  do  even  work. 
Toiling  without  release,  no  hope  ahead 
Of  taking  up  another  business  soon, 
Of  varying  the  task  she  finds  too  hard  ; — 
This  her  career,  so  closely  interknit 
With  holier  demands  as  deep  as  life, 
That  to  refuse  to  cook  is  held  the  same 
As  to  refuse  her  wife  and  motherhood. 
Six  mortal  hours  a  day  to  handle  food — 
Prepare  it,  serve  it,  clean  it  all  away. — 
With  allied  labors  of  the  stove  and  tub, 
The  pan  and  dishcloth,  and  the  scrubbing  brush. 
Developing  forever  in  her  brain 
The  power  to  do  the  work  in  which  she  lives. 
While  the  slow  finger  of  Heredity, 
Writes  on  the  forehead  of  each  living  man, 
Strive  as  he  may,  '  His  mother  was  a  cook  ! '  " 


These  are  the  facts.  That  each  task  may  be  done 
with  happiness,  with  satisfaction  that  those  we  love  are 
served,  alters  no  whit  of  the  indictment.  There  is  a 
better  way  and  we  must  learn  it. 

At  this  point,  let  me  tell  you  once  more  that  I  am 
not  the  expounder  of  any  theory,  but  the  mere  fact- 
grubber,  giving  you  in  order  facts  as  I  find  them,  and 


Household  Industries,  143 

allowing  them  finally  to  speak  for  themselves,  as  facts 
have  a  way  of  doing.  And  before  their  voice  is  heard 
in  any  summary  of  their  real  meaning,  we  will  once 
more  refresh  ourselves  with  remembrance  of  what  we 
all  know^  :  that  there  have  been  many  minds  among  our 
American  women  amply  able  to  cope  with  and  conquer 
difficulties.  That  life  for  them  was  far  less  complex  in 
its  demands  than  it  is  for  us,  is  in  part  offset  by  the  fact 
that  they  were  compelled  to  handle  many  industries 
now  dismissed  from  the  household.  But  over  and  over 
again  we  read,  or  we  know  by  personal  knowledge,  of 
women  studying  Greek  as  they  rocked  the  cradle,  or 
hearing  the  lessons  of  boys  preparing  for  college,  or 
coaching  the  divinity  student,  a  little  rusty  in  his 
classics. 

Lucy  Larcom's  A  New  England  Girlhood  and 
Mrs.  Susan  Leslie's  Recollections  of  my  Mother 
give  in  detail  the  passion  for  study  and  the  sacrifices 
made  to  secure  it ;  and  that  wonderful  mastery  of 
detail  summed  up  in  the  New  England  phrase  **  A 
woman  of  faculty,"  is  part  of  the  story  of  our  grand- 
mothers, and  no  less  part  of  our  own  advance  as  a 
people.  Honor  forever  to  those  homes,  and  the 
mothers  in  those  homes,  who  gave  us  da)'^  by  day 
evidence  of  what  power  lies  in  human  will  and  human 
love.  And  then  let  us  remember  that  in  this  incessant 
and  tremendous  strain  upon  every  power  was  consumed 
a  portion  of  our  own  birthright,  and  that  the  overwork  of 
our  grandmothers  has  robbed  us  of  our  full  and  proper 
portion  of  nervous  vitality. 

And  let  me  add  that  word  of  Nathaniel  Haw- 
thorne's, "God  be  thanked  that  gave  us  such  ances- 
tors, and  God  be  thanked  each  generation  removes  us 
farther  from  them  !  " 


144  Household  Economics, 

Of  all  the  mj^riad  things  their  hands  did,  and  did 
well  for  the  most  part,  but  two  remain  to  us  un- 
changed in  their  daily  recurring  demands  :  cooking 
and  cleaning.  Have  they  improved  in  their  methods  ? 
In  the  advance  which  marks  every  form  of  industry, — 
the  specialization  of  each  of  their  phases — the  perfect- 
ing and  simplifying  of  processes — have  either  cooking 
or  cleaning  kept  pace  with  those  others  ?  As  one  v,/ho 
has  lived  in  every  part  of  the  United  States,  and  who 
in  these  later  years  has  studied  deeply  the  conditions 
among  the  poor,  and  especially  among  women  wage- 
earners,  the  only  answer  I  can  make  is  No.  As  a 
whole,  in  spite  of  our  splendid  food  supply,  we  are  one 
of  the  worst  fed  nations  in  the  civilized  world.  And  I 
beg  that  I  may  not  be  instantly  understood  and  reported 
as  claiming  that  we  have  no  good  American  cookery. 
We  have  delicious  and  distinctive  American  dishes,  but 
in  the  one  matter  of  bread  alone,  how  often  do  we  find, 
as  we  travel,  a  perfect  product  ? 

You,  of  course,  my  neighbor,  make  an  irreproach- 
able loaf,  always  even  in  quality  and  good  for  food  ; 
but  have  I  not  heard  you  express  your  opinion  of 
Mrs.  Jones'  loaves  and  her  sad  ups  and  downs  in 
results?  Have  I  not  heard  your  own  wail  that  you 
have  no  luck  in  this  or  that  combination  ?  Luck  ! 
Does  the  chemist  talk  of  luck  or  no  luck  in  his  ex- 
periments ?  Cooking  is  a  chemical  process,  and  its 
conditions  should  be  as  carefully  watched  as  is  all  that 
goes  to  make  the  perfection  of  a  chemical  process.  In 
East  and  West,  North  and  South,  trained  intelligence 
in  cooking  is  the  exception,  and  depths  of  imbecility 
the  rule.  I  have  seen  the  mechanic  or  workman's  wife 
put  her  lump  of  beef  in  a  cold  pan  with  some  cold 
grease,  and  set  both  on  the  top  of  a  red  hot  stove  to 


Household  Industries.  145 

scorch  peacefully  the  appointed  time,  until,  as  she 
dumped  it  on  the  platter,  no  man  could  tell  if  it  were 
fried  beef  or  fried  boot-heel.  Saleratus  biscuit  and 
bacon  are  the  staple  diet  three  times  a  day  for  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  in  our  country,  and,  especially  in 
the  cities,  we  have  S3^nchronous  anachronism  side  by 
side — the  princely  house  of  a  Vanderbilt  perfect  in 
every  minutest  detail, — a  chef  presiding  in  the  kitchen 
and  composing  his  menus  to  the  sound  of  music,  with 
a  corps  of  assistants  waiting  his  orders,  and  in  the 
same  street  far  down  toward  the  river,  and  the  factory 
region,  the  method  I  have  mentioned,— the  meal 
warranted  not  to  feed  and  leaving  the  eater  with  what 
he  calls  a  *'  goneness,"  the  remedy  for  which  he  seeks 
in  the  saloon.  Tea  boiled  in  a  tin  tea  pot  and  rank 
with  the  tannic  acid  thus  produced  ;  bread  white  with 
alum — these  are  the  staples  for  the  laboring  men  and 
women  of  our  cities.  Nor  does  the  country  fare  much 
better.  It  is  time  that  we  call  a  halt  and  ask  if  these 
industries  must  remain  forever  hampered  by  the  un- 
reasoning methods  of  the  past,  and  if  there  be  not  some 
practical  method  of  lifting  them,  no  matter  how  slowly, 
from  the  dead  level  on  which  they  still  abide.  The 
stir  of  thought  and  feeling  is  evident  at  every  point 
where  intelligent  thinking  goes  on,  and  the  formation 
of  the  National  Household  Economic  Association  at 
Chicago  in  1893,  with  its  numerous  branches  since 
organized,  indicates  that  there  has  been  begun  at  least 
a  welcome  new  departure.  Many  phases  of  cooking 
are  already  being  removed  from  the  house,  pickling 
and  preserving,  for  instance,  being  largely  done  out- 
side, and  manj^  women  making  a  specialty  of  delicate 
and  careful  work  in  one  or  the  other. 

As  to  cleaning,    compare  the    scientific    antiseptic 


1 46  Household  Econo7nics. 

methods  of  the  modern  hospital  with  our  still  primitive 
processes  in  the  home.  The  soul-wearing  spotlessness 
of  the  New  England  housekeeper — that  one,  for  in- 
stance, who  when  she  asked  company  to  tea,  imme- 
diately scrubbed  the  cellar  stairs— has  its  offset  in  the 
frowsy  shiftlessness  of  the  poor  white  in  the  South,  or 
in  the  workman's  home  of  the  North,  or  even  in  this 
same  model  New  England  housekeeper's  utter  igno- 
rance of  the  real  sanitary  laws  of  the  house  as  an 
organism. 

In  short,  the  time  for  better  methods  is  ripe.  The 
sense  of  helplessness  and  distraction  that,  in  spite  of  us, 
invades  our  homes,  means  simply  that  we  are  to  be 
forced  to  think,  and  that  out  of  this  transition  time  is 
to  come  all  the  good  toward  which  w^e  have  blindly 
blundered  ;  but  which  is  our  certain  portion, — and  to 
come  through  our  own  concerted,  conscious  action, — 
no  more  blind  and  stumbling,  but  a  steady  march 
forward ;  no  more  distracted  and  oppressed,  but  con- 
fident and  strong,  and  singing  as  we  go: 

"  I  feel  the  earth  move  sunward  ; 
I  join  the  great  march  onward, 
And  take  with  joy  while  living 
My  freehold  of  thanksgiving." 

REFERENCES  AND  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Dynamic  Sociology,  by  Lester  F.  Ward,  pp.  552-61  and  656- 

67. 
The  Evolution  of  Marriage,  by  Charles  Letourneau. 
The  Evolution  of  Sex,  by  Geddes  and  Thompson. 
Prehistoric  Man,  by  Daniel  Wilson. 
Origin  of  Civilization,  by  Sir  John  Lubbock. 
Buckle's  History  of  Civilization. 
The  Place  of  Woman  in  Primitive  Culture,  by  O.  E.  Mason. 


Hotisehold  Industries, 


147 


Woman,  Church  and  State,  by  Matilda  Joslyn  Gage.  p.  456. 
Women   Wage  Earners,  by  Helen  Campbell,     Chap.  xii. 
Man  and  Woman,  by  Havelock  Ellis. 
Primitive  Culture,  by  Edward  Tylor. 
Das  Weib,  by  Dr.  Herman  Ploss. 
"Household  Economics  as  a  University  Movement",  by  Helen 

Campbell.     Am.  Kitchen  Magazitie,  Nov.,    1894. 
"Household  Economics  as  a  University  Movement,"  by  Helen 

Campbell,     The  Review  of  Revieivs,  March,  1896. 
The  Relation  of  College  Women  to  Progress  in   Domestic 

Science.     By  Ellen  H.  Richards.    A  Paper  presented  to  the 

Association  of  Collegiate  Alumnae,  Oct.  24,  1890, 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  NUTRITION  OF  THE  HOUSEHOLD. 

Nutritive  Function  of  the  Household  in  Relation  to  the  Indi- 
vidual ;  in  Relation  to  Society — Processes  of  Nutrition  in 
Organ  ;  Organism  and  Organization— Importance  of  Nutri- 
tion to  Life  and  of  its  Secondary  Processes  to  Development 
— The  Struggle  for  Existence — Man's  Victor}' — No  Longer 
a  Struggle  but  a  Growth — Household  Nutrition  Merely  a 
Stage  in  the  Process — The  Kitchen,  the  Stomach  of  the 
House — Primitive  Nutrition  Simple  and  Private — Increase 
of  Complexity  and  Co-ordination — From  Bone  to  Banquet 
— Physiological  Needs — Waste  and  Supply — Age  and  Oc- 
cupation— Racial  Dietetics — Theories  and  Facts — Some  of 
Our  Errors— Control  of  Nutrition  and  its  Consequences. 

WK  have  found  that  most  of  the  industries  that 
began  as  household  functions  have  in  the 
natural  course  of  their  evolution  and  de- 
velopment grown  out  from  the  house  into  larger  place  in 
the  world  than  the  house  afforded.  Of  the  functions 
that  remain  in  the  household  the  leading  two  are  nutri- 
tion and  excretion, — the  feeding  and  cleaning  processes 
of  humanity.  Nutrition  is,  at  present,  of  the  larger 
importance.  More  time  and  space  are  allotted  to  it ; 
more  energy  spent  in  its  fulfilment ;  more  consideration 
devoted  to  it.  The  cooking  school  has  come.  The 
cleaning  school  is  still  to  come. 

In  studying  this  great  function  of  humanity's  nutri- 
148 


The  Nutrition  of  the  Household,        149 

tion,  as  in  our  study  of  the  elaborate  structure  of  the 
home  and  its  furniture,  we  are  led  again  to  see  the  in- 
timate and  unbroken  connection  between  the  soul  of 
man  and  his  body,  the  bod}^  of  man  and  his  house,  the 
house  of  man  and  the  earth  it  comes  from.  In  touching 
upon  the  subject  of  nutrition,  we  touch  upon  the  process 
of  living — neither  more  nor  less.  Nutrition,  if  I  may 
stretch  the  word  for  a  moment  to  cover  excretion  as 
well, — and  indeed  the  latter  is  but  a  sub-process,  a 
consequence  of  the  former — nutrition  in  its  largest  sense 
is  that  stream  of  materials  in  motion,  in  which  we  live. 
Our  apparently  solid  bodies  are  but  processions  of 
materials.  While  the  procession  passes  a  given  point 
we  live  in  it — that  is  all.  While  the  necessary  constit- 
uents of  our  bodies  appear  in  due  season,  order,  and 
proportion,  we  live  ;  if  they  fail  to  appear,  we  die. 
Like  a  spot  of  sunlight  on  a  river  is  the  apparent  fixed- 
ness of  our  life.  Do  not  imagine  that  we  are  permanent 
objects,  through  which  dinners  may  or  may  not  pass. 
The  dinners  are  the  fixed  consideration  and  we  the 
transient  one.  It  is  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the 
dinner  v/ho  eats  it,  or  if  it  is  eaten  at  all, — a  matter  of 
terrible  importance  to  us. 

There  are  in  the  world  certain  elements.  When 
some  of  them  are  combined  in  a  certain  proportion,  lo  ! 
there  is  standing  ground  for  I^ife,  and  lyife  stands 
thereon  proudly.  But  his  elevation  is  like  that  of  a 
clown  on  a  rolling  barrel ; — if  he  does  not  keep  it  going, 
down  he  comes  ! 

See  with  what  literal  exactness  the  body  of  a  man  is 
like  "  a  body  of  men."  Some  men  organized  and  act- 
uated b}'-  a  common  purpose,  form  a  body  and  can  act 
as  such,  while  they  so  remain  together.  Some  bread 
and  cheese,  meat  and  vegetables  and  fruit,  organized 


1 5 o  Household  Economics, 

and  actuated  by  a  common  purpose,  form  a  body  and 
can  act  as  such  while  they  so  remain  together.  The 
soul  lives  in  the  body  of  the  individual  as  the  "com- 
mon purpose  ' '  lives  in  the  body  of  men. 

As  we  value  our  corporate  existence,  we  must  pre- 
serve its  constituents,  else  we  discorporate  speedily. 
It  is  a  "  low  "  function,  this  of  nutrition,  but  one  of 
considerable  importance.  Until  it  is  duly  performed, 
no  other  business  of  any  consequence  can  be  attended 
to.  And  as  the  health  and  virtue  of  each  individual 
member  of  our  body  depends  on  its  being  properly  nour- 
ished, so  does  our  health  and  virtue  depend  on  our 
being  properly  nourished.  And  as  we,  though  having 
enough  to  eat,  are  not  healthy  unless  all  our  members 
are  properly  nourished,  so  society,  though  rich  as  a 
whole,  is  not  healthy  unless  all  of  its  members  are 
properly  nourished. 

There  is  no  break  in  our  social  economy  from  stom- 
ach to  kitchen  and  from  kitchen  to  market.  The  pro- 
cess is  all  one  in  constantly  enlarging  degree.  We  are 
considering  that  stage  of  the  process  of  nutrition  which 
is  at  present  covered  by  household  economics.  Look 
first  at  the  close  connection  between  the  kitchen  and 
the  stomach.  "There  is  many  a  slip 'twixt  the  cup 
and  the  lip,"  says  the  proverb;  but  there  should  be 
none.  Nutrition  covers  every  step  of  the  way  from 
phosphates  and  carbons  and  nitrogens  in  the  earth's 
substance  to  the  springy  muscles  and  clear  brain  which 
form  our  immediate  engine. 

Between  them  and  us  comes  first  the  nutrition  of  the 
vegetable.  We  can  only  eat  what  has  already  once 
been  eaten — or  twice,  when  it  comes  to  meat.  Then 
the  manifold  processes  of  laying  hold  on  our  meat  and 
vegetables, — all  these  are  steps  in  nutrition.     The  old 


The  Nutrition  of  the  Household,       1 5 1 

recipe  which  begins,  "First  catch  your  hare,"  began 
reasonably  enough.  All  that  goes  to  secure  and  pre- 
serve our  supplies  is  part  of  the  process.  Then  we  who 
are  human  have  instituted  another  nutritive  process, 
more  complex  than  any  known  to  the  animals  below 
us — the  preparation  of  food.  This  and  its  attendant 
machinery  is  la  cuisine — the  kitchen.  After  the  cup 
has  reached  the  lip,  we  can  do  no  better  than  the  ani- 
mals (for  that  matter,  we  cannot  always  do  as  well). 
But  to  the  whole  nutritive  process  before  the  lip  is 
reached  we  can  apply  intelligence  and  promote  develop- 
ment. 

The  value  of  our  advanced  system  of  nutrition  to  the 
individual  is  that  by  having  the  welcome  dinner  bell 
summon  him  to  perfectly  prepared  nutrition,  he  is 
thereby  enabled  to  use  all  his  highly  trained  capacity  in 
some  higher  business  than  that  of  getting  his  own 
dinner. 

When  the  little  cells  were  all  stomachs,  there  was 
no  organism.  When  the  stomach  took  its  place  in  the 
organism,  numbers  of  cells,  sure  of  their  dinner,  could 
contentedly  specialize  into  bones  and  brains  and  other 
useful  articles  ;  all  of  which  helped  to  get  dinner  for 
the  stomach.  Society,  setting  apart  the  service  of  some 
to  obtain  and  prepare  nutrition  for  all,  effects  a  similar 
advance  on  a  large  scale.  But  for  the  dinner-table  and 
its  intelligent  provision,  we  should  still  all  be  engaged 
in  the  business  of  getting  our  own  dinners, — an  occu- 
pation both  absorbing  and  degrading  (as  getting  or 
helping  to  get  the  dinners  of  the  community  is  not). 

The  subtlety  and  perfection  of  our  nutritive  processes 
require  the  special  service  of  a  specialized  functionary  ; 
hence  the:  cook,  as  essential  to  social  progress  as 
The  Carpenter,  The  Weaver,  or  The  Smith. 


152  Household  Economics, 

Cooked  food,  served  food, — saves  energy  to  the  body  ; 
raw  material,  like  grass,  requires  a  most  elaborate  di- 
gestive system  to  make  it  into  meat.  It  takes  less 
machinery  to  digest  the  meat,  and  even  less  is  needed 
if  we  make  the  meat  into  soup.  Note  here  a  relation 
between  food  and  organism  ;  where  food  is  simple, 
plenty,  and  easy  to  get,  the  development  of  the  organism 
is  all  inside  ; — an  elaborate  digestive  system,  a  clumsy 
and  simple  muscular  system. 

Where  food  is  various,  scarce,  and  hard  to  get,  the 
development  is  the  other  way  ; — an  elaborate  external 
organism  to  get  food  with,  and  a  simpler  one  to  digest 
it. 

It  is  in  this  connection  that  the  importance  of  nutri- 
tion to  life  shows  clearly.  On  the  primary  processes 
of  nutrition  all  development  of  life  is  conditioned. 
Mere  digestion  is  the  only  function  of  the  primordial 
cell.  He  can  take  care  of  the  food  if  it  comes  his  way, 
that  is  all.  A  simple  organ  was  he,  with  one  function. 
The  union  of  these  cells  in  the  second  degree  of  life, — 
organism, — is  commensurate  with  the  development  of 
the  secondary  processes  of  nutrition, — the  various 
methods  of  obtaining  food.  In  all  the  infinite  differen- 
tiation of  organic  forms,  the  secondary  nutritive  char- 
acteristics are  the  principal  distinctions.  Reproductive 
processes  modify  the  creature  somewhat  ;  defensive 
processes  somewhat  also  ;  but  the  secondary  nutritive 
processes  most  of  all.  And  the  reason  is  plain.  Re- 
production and  defence  are  only  occasional  demands ; 
nutrition  is  constant.  Creatures  mate  and  fight  occa- 
sionally.   They  eat  continually. 

The  acts  which  the  organism  has  to  perform  to  get 
its  food  are  the  main  factors  in  its  development.  As 
the  food  supply  varies  the  animals  vary,  so  that  a  nat- 


The  Nutrition  of  the  Household.        1 5  3 

uralist  could  tell  us  exactly  what  kind  of  creatures 
lived  in  a  place  if  he  knew  what  the  food  supply  was. 

Let  me  mention,  merely  as  a  few  indicative  instances, 
cattle,  modified  by  abundant  supplies  of  one  kind  of 
food  found  on  vast  plains  ;  sheep,  modified  by  the  kind 
of  ground  their  grass  grows  on  ;  and,  for  an  extreme 
case  of  specialization,  that  Javanese  monkey  with  the 
one  attenuated  claw-like  finger, — a  finger  developed 
by  his  constant  search  for  a  fine  fat  grub  of  that  island, 
w^iich  grub  bores  holes  in  trees. 

This  may  be  followed  as  extensively  as  we  like.  I 
wish  now  merely  to  indicate  the  importance  of  second- 
ary nutritive  processes  in  evolution.  Animal  life,  we 
see,  is  in  its  first  stage  a  helpless  dependent  on  the  food 
supply  ;  and  in  the  second  an  active  pursuer  of  the  food 
supply,  but  still  the  mere  sport  and  plaything  of  that 
mighty  but  capricious  stream.  Should  the  food  sup- 
ply of  a  region  change,  the  animal  of  that  region  must 
change  too,  modifying  and  remodifying  his  poor  organ- 
ism in  a  perpetual  effort  to  keep  up  with  his  dinner. 

But  this  is  not  the  end  of  the  story.  There  exists  a 
third  degree  of  life — a  tertiary  process  of  nutrition. 
The  cells,  mere  organs,  united  to  form  organisms. 
The  organisms  united  also  in  organization,  when  the 
fulness  of  time  is  come, — and  we  have  humanity. 

Humanity,  in  its  least  existence,  represents  organiza- 
tion, however  low  ;  and  with  that  organization  has 
developed  the  third  process  in  nutrition — the  production 
of  food.  Man  can  digest  food, — so  can  an  amoeba. 
He  can  pluck  it  off  a  tree, — so  can  the  ape.  He  can 
catch  it  and  kill  it, — so  can  the  tiger.  He  can  produce 
food  from  year  to  year,  regularly,  sufficiently,  of  what 
sort  and  variety  and  proportion  he  chooses.  So  can 
hardly  another  living  thing.  Bees  and  ants,  squirrels  and 


154  Household  Economics. 

field  mice  being  almost  the  only  inhabitants  of  the 
animal  world  owning  storehouses  of  food.  Man  does 
this  not  by  virtue  of  being  vertebrate  or  biped,  but  by 
virtue  of  living  in  organic  relation, — being  part  of 
the  social  organism. 

Agriculture  and  commerce  (its  child)  depend  abso- 
lutely on  our  social  interrelation.  They  are  never  found 
without  it.  These  are  familiar  facts,  I  know,  but  study  a 
little  more  deeply  into  their  relation.  Facts  have  always 
been  with  us  ; — to  perceive  their  relation  is  the  work  of 
the  scientist.  Look  at  what  these  three  steps  mean. 
Here  is  the  food  supply;  — a  number  of  constituents 
tumbling  calmly  about  with  climatic  and  geographic 
and  geologic  changes.  Here  is  the  cell  waiting  for  it 
to  come  along.  If  it  does  come  he  can  eat.  If  it  does 
not  come  he  cannot  eat,  and  therefore  dies.  Now  be- 
hold the  organism.  He  does  not  have  to  wait  for  food 
to  come  his  way — he  is  up  and  after  it ;  up  trees,  un- 
der water,  into  the  ground,  and  spending  his  energy,  as 
fast  as  he  gets  any,  in  speed  to  run  with,  traps  to  catch 
with,  bait  to  lure  with,  weapons  to  kill  with  ;  a  cease- 
less and  frantic  effort  to  catch  up  with  his  food  supply. 
He  never  could  go  any  further,  for  it  took  all  his  food  to 
get  his  strength  and  all  his  strength  to  get  his  food. 
All  this  is  "  the  struggle  for  existence." 

Now  comes  man.  He  does  not  have  to  wait  for 
food,  nor  to  run  after  food.  He  can  make  food  grow. 
He  has  caught  up  with  his  food  supply.  He  has  con- 
quered in  the  struggle  for  existence.  Hereafter,  his 
progress  is  no  longer  a  struggle,  but  a  growth.  This 
does  not  mean  that  he  need  not  labor.  The  amoeba 
did  not  labor — he  loafed.  The  existence  of  the  amoeba 
is  an  inferior  existence.  Labor  is  a  human  function  ; 
a  social  function, — and  as  such  took  its  rise  in  the 


The  Nutrition  of  the  Household.        1 5  5 

tertiar}^  process  of  nutrition — the  effort  required  to 
produce  food.  But  look  at  the  difference  between  the 
exertion  of  a  man  to  procure  food  and  the  exertion  of  a 
beast  to  procure  it.  The  lower  creature  can  in  no  way 
modify  or  control  his  food  ;  he  must,  on  the  contrary, 
be  modified  and  controlled  by  it.  The  shape  of  his 
body,  the  quality  of  his  brain,  the  activity  of  both,  are 
conditioned  upon  so  much  grass  or  fruit  or  fleeing 
prey.  His  food  makes  him,  and  there  he  is— a  product, 
not  a  producer.  Man  is  equally  modified  by  his  food 
and  the  exertion  required  to  get  it,  but  he  can  choose 
that  food  and  dictate  that  exertion.  He  can  make  the 
food  that  makes  him;  he  can  modify  himself  !  Hence 
all  that  lies  in  our  word  Progress. 

All  the  varied  activities  of  man,  which  have  made 
him  what  he  is,  are  primarily  traceable  to  his  effort  to 
make  a  living  ;  and  that  is  literally  what  man  does. 
He  makes  his  living..  In  our  courses  in  History,  Eco- 
nomics, and  Ethics,  we  have  learned,  or  think  we  have, 
the  kind  of  living  he  has  made. 

Man  now,  as  a  race,  eats  food  universally  produced, 
distributed,  prepared  ;  in  his  ever  growing  third  proc- 
ess of  nutrition  he  has  learned  to  govern  and  adjust 
the  food  supply  so  that,  while  our  means  of  production, 
transportation,  and  distribution  endure,  man  cannot  die 
from  off  the  earth  until  all  of  him  dies ;  and  he  lives 
strong  in  the  powers  and  faculties  which  his  self- 
governed  food  supply  produces. 

In  this  immense  range  of  the  human  nutritive 
process,  which  takes  from  innumerable  world-divided 
places  the  many  varying  constituents  of  human  food, 
carries  them  anywhere  on  the  earth's  surface,  and 
.serves  them  on  a  million  plates  for  a  million  mouths  to 
eat, — processes  which  involve  the  co-ordinate  activities 


1 56  HoiLsehold  Economics, 

of  a  million  people, — our  field  of  study,  household  nu- 
trition, is  but  a  simple  stage.  None  the  less  is  it  a 
vitally  important  one.  For  the  world  in  general,  food 
is  prepared  and  eaten  at  home  ;  and  no  matter  how 
many  farmers  and  butchers  and  sailors  and  teamsters 
and  grocers  have  conspired  to  provide  us  with  good 
food,  the  one  cook  in  our  kitchen  may  vitiate  the  prod- 
uct in  an  hour. 

Between  the  wide  world  and  our  mouths  is  a  long 
way  ;  and  the  kitchen  is  much  closer  to  our  mouths 
than  the  world  is.  As  our  mouths  perform  a  certain 
part  of  the  digestive  process,  preparing  the  food  for 
the  stomach,  so  does  the  kitchen  prepare  it  for  our 
mouths.  And  in  no  part  of  all  the  long  journey  is 
there  room  for  more  knowledge  or  more  skill,  and  at 
present  less  evidence  of  either  knowledge  or  skill ! 

A  clam  is  a  simpler  organism  than  we  are  ;  but  be- 
cause our  teeth  ache  we  do  not  wish  to  be  a  clam. 
High  organization  is  complex,  not  simple  ;  but  it  may 
work  with  perfect  ease  and  smoothness  none  the  less. 
And  so  will  our  household  organization  work  when  we 
understand  it. 

The  early  savage  with  his  solitary  bone  lived  more 
simply  than  we  live  ;  but  our  banquet,  with  all  its 
abuses,  is  part  of  a  higher  living.  We  must  learn  to 
separate  abuses  from  their  sustaining  causes  and  dis- 
criminate between  them. 

While  the  kitchen  is  the  stomach  of  the  house,  it  is 
as  essential  to  have  it  rightly  understood  and  managed 
as  it  is  essential  to  have  the  stomach  so  cared  for. 
Cooking  is  preliminar}^  digestion .  Primitive  household 
nutrition  was  like  all  other  primitive  processes,  simple 
and  individual.  It  has  grown  complex  and  social,  as 
we  have — not  onty  as  a  pleasing  coincidence,  but  as  an 


The  Nutrztio7t  of  the  Household.       157 

essential  cause  and  consequence.  The  popular  O-ry  for 
simpler  living  is  a  mistake — in  so  far  as  it  is  a  cry  for 
cruder  living.  We  cannot  go  backward.  But  what 
we  do  need  in  our  living  is  a  smoother  specialization. 

Here  then  we  face  a  series  of  physiological  needs 
summed  up  in  the  ^0x6,  food.  I  spare  you,  as  indeed  I 
must,  any  attempt  to  give  you  here  the  composition  of 
the  human  body  with  all  that  its  complex  structure  de- 
mands. The  full  grown  adult  takes  in  each  day  through 
mouth  and  lungs  about  eight  and  a  half  pounds  of 
dry  food  and  the  air  necessary  for  breathing  purposes. 
Through  every  pore  of  the  skin,  the  lungs,  the  kid- 
neys, the  lower  intestines,  there  is  a  corresponding 
waste  ;  and  supply  and  waste  together  in  the  course 
of  a  3^ear  amount  to  about  3,000  pounds,  or  one  and  a 
half  tons  !  Now,  the  food  taken  into  the  human  body 
is  made  up,  as  the  pages  of  your  larger  Physiology  and 
Anatomy  will  tell  3^ou,  of  sixteen  different  elements. 
Oxygen  is  the  only  one  of  these  that  is  mainly  used 
in  its  natural  state.  Water,  which  makes  considerably 
over  two  thirds  of  the  body,  enters  largely  into  the 
composition  of  food,  from  the  drinks  through  the  whole 
gamut  of  fruits,  of  succulent  vegetables,  eggs,  fish, 
cheese,  the  cereals,  and  even  the  fats.  The  demand 
for  food  includes  fat,  sugar,  starch,  nitrogenous  foods, 
found  chiefly  in  flesh,  but  also  in  a  few  important 
vegetables,— and  last,  the  salts,  which  belong  alike  to 
vegetable  and  animal  food, — meat,  fish,  and  potatoes 
containing  phosphorus,  lime,  and  magnesia.  Potash 
is  given  us  in  meat,  fish,  milk,  vegetables,  and  fruits. 
Iron  abounds  in  flesh  and  vegetables,  and  sulphur 
enters  into  albumen,  casein,  and  fibrine. 

The  simplest  division  of  food  is  into  flesh  formers  and 
heat  producers  ;  the  former  being  as  often  called  nitro- 


158  Household  Economics, 

genous  food,  proteids  or  albumenoids,  the  latter  heat- 
giving  or  carbonaceous  foods.  For  a  healthy  body 
both  are  essential ;  but  climate  and  constitution  will 
always  affect  the  amounts  of  each  required.  In  a  keen 
and  long  continued  winter,  the  most  condensed  forms 
of  carbonaceous  food  will  be  needed.  In  a  summer,  a 
small  portion  of  nitrogenous  food  will  nourish  muscle, 
and  a  large  amount  of  fruit  and  vegetables  are  indicated. 

Muscle  being  the  first  consideration  in  building  up  a 
healthy  body,  the  food  provider  to  this  end  must  at 
once  study  the  values  of  different  foods.  Save  for  the 
little  manual  it  was  my  pleasant  task  to  make  in  1879, 
we  have,  outside  of  text-books  on  physiology  and  cook- 
books pure  and  simple,  nothing  until  very  recently 
that  met  the  need  of  the  food  provider  for  plain  state- 
ment of  what  was  wanted.  In  1885,  the  American 
Public  Health  Association  received  from  Mr.  Henry 
Loomb,  of  Rochester,  the  offer  of  a  prize  for  the  best 
monograph  on  ' '  Practical,  Sanitary,  and  Economical 
Cooking."  Of  the  seventy  essays  that  in  time  came 
in,  but  one  fully  met  the  requirements,  and  remains  the 
best  short  treatise  on  this  subject,  under  the  same  title 
as  that  of  the  offer.  Practical^  Sanitary^  and  Economical 
Cooking. 

To  this  admirable  work  has  been  added  that  of  Mrs. 
Ellen  H.  Richards,  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  who  has  made  and  overseen  the  making 
of  a  series  of  dietaries  for  all  ages  and  various  condi- 
tions of  men. 

All  this  knowledge,  brought  within  the  compass  of 
ample  charts,  will  be  part  of  any  future  work  to  be 
done  in  a  course  of  Household  Economics.  Age  and 
occupation  naturally  determine  the  application  of  each 
dietary,  but  from  the  baby  well  or  sick,  on  through 


The  Nutrition  of  the  Household.        159 

every  phase  of  life,  these  charts  will  give  you  with 
unerring  accuracy  food  values,  just  so  far  as  our  present 
best  knowledge  determines  them.  Science  does  not 
pretend — indeed  knows  better  than — to  meddle  with 
racial  instincts.  A  study  of  national  dishes  is,  in  this 
light,  a  very  fascinating  one.  The  lamp  of  life  for 
Greenland  has  to  have  a  very  literal  supply,  and  the 
Esquimaux  with  his  lump  of  raw  blubber  consumes 
the  only  food  that  renders  his  continued  existence  in 
his  latitude  possible. 

For  the  other  extreme  of  temperature,  the  Bast 
Indies,  China,  Africa,  and  part  of  the  West  Indies,  we 
find  rice  the  universal  food.  Starch  and  sugar  serve 
as  flesh  formers,  the  starch  of  the  rice  turning  to  sugar 
under  the  action  of  the  saliva, — with  the  addition  of  a 
little  ghee,  or  melted  butter,  or  olive  oil  used  by  the 
West  Indians, — these  giving  all  the  essential  elements. 
In  a  latitude  a  trifle  more  northern,  the  same  rice  is 
mingled  with  bits  of  fish  or  meat,  as  in  the  Turkish 
pilau,  to  which  mutton  or  poultry  is  added.  The  Arab 
has  also  an  occasional  pilau  of  mutton,  but  subsists 
chiefly  on  a  handful  of  dates  and  parched  w^heat  or 
maize  for  his  meal,  with  a  draught  of  mare's  or 
camel's  milk.  The  Turkish  burden  bearer  adds  to  the 
same  regimen  cucumbers  eaten  as  we  eat  apples,  picks 
up  his  200-pound  bag  of  coffee  as  one  picks  up  a 
pebble,  and,  like  the  Arab,  he  is  a  model  of  muscular 
power,  endurance,  and  agility. 

Turning  to  Southern  Europe,  macaroni  replaces 
rice,  and  is  the  most  condensed  form  in  which  wheat 
can  appear  ;  olive  oil  and  cheese,  as  well  as  tomatoes, 
adding  the  necessary  elements.  Spain  has  the  olla  po- 
drida,  a  dish  which  has  as  chief  ingredient  the  garbanzo 
or  field  pea.     It  is  a  rich  stew  of  fowls  and  bacon,  red 


1 60  Household  Economics. 

peppers,  and  pease.  Red  pepper  enters  into  the  compo- 
sition of  most  dishes  in  tropical  countries,  and  there  is 
good  reason  for  it.  Long  continued  intense  heat 
weakens  the  action  of  the  liver  and  lessens  the  supply 
of  bile.  Red  pepper  has  the  quality,  which  black  or 
white  pepper  has  not,  of  stimulating  the  liver  and  so 
aiding  digestion.  Here  is  the  reason  then  of  the  curry 
and  the  olla,  nature  having  provided  in  capsicum  j  ust 
that  fillip  for  the  liver  which  serves  its  turn  at  times  in 
more  northern  climates. 

In  France,  the  pot  au  feu,  or  soup  pot,  simmers  in 
every  peasant  and  middle  class  home,  and  is  not  despised 
in  richer  ones.  In  this  a  little  beef  is  cooked  so  judi- 
ciously as  to  flavor  a  large  mass  of  vegetables  and  broth, 
and  this,  served  with  salad  and  oil  and  bread,  forms  a 
meal  making  the  utmost  of  every  constituent  offered. 

Norway,  Sweden,  and  Russia  naturally  tend  more 
and  more  to  the  oily  diet  of  the  Esquimaux.  In  short, 
national  dietaries  from  that  of  the  ancient  Jews  down, 
give,  as  we  read  them,  a  new  understanding  of  the 
part  food  plays  in  supplementing  climatic  deficiencies 
and  forming  national  character. 

What  our  individual  constitution  needs  we  may  all 
learn  in  time.  The  laborer  requires  one  form,  the 
growing  child  another,  the  man  or  woman  whose  labor 
is  chiefly  intellectual  a  third  form.  The  excess  or  the 
lack  of  any  necessary  element  means  disease,  and  for 
such  condition  we  are  already  responsible. 

Weak  and  vitiated  blood  may  be  an  inheritance,  but 
scientific  feeding  has  fully  demonstrated  its  power  to 
avert  or  alter  effects.  Scrofula  and  all  weaknesses  and 
unwholesomenesses  change  face  under  the  rational 
methods  of  scientific  treatment, — and  the  best  physi- 
cians now  rely  largely  on  natural  methods  for  cure. 


The  Niitritioii  of  the  Household.        1 6 1 

It  is  a  most  unfortunate  baby  whose  mother  knows 
nothing  of  the  laws  of  food.  I  have  seen  a  three 
months  baby  swallowing  its  portion  of  coffee  or  tea, 
and  the  small  German  at  six  months  taking  its  little 
mug  of  lager  beer  as  philosophically  as  its  serious- faced 
father.  Fevers  and  rashes  are  the  first  result  ;  nerves 
and  a  shocking  temper  the  second, — and  the  round- 
eyed  mother  wonders  where  the  child  got  its  dreadful 
disposition.  The  physician  who  keeps  pace  with  mod- 
ern dietetics  strikes  out  meat  altogether  until  the  child 
is  at  least  seven  years  old  ;  and  advises  its  use  only 
once  a  day  after  that.  Sir  Henry  Thompson,  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  of  English  physicians,  and 
noted  as  well  for  his  popularity  as  a  diner  out  and  giver 
of  dinners,  writes  strenuously  in  his  book  on  Food  and 
Feeding  against  the  prevailing  excessive  use  of  meat, 
especially  for  children. 

Nitrogenous  vegetables  and  fruit  advantageously  take 
the  place  of  meat  for  all,  Mathieu- Williams,  in  his 
Chemistry  of  Cookery,  takes  the  same  ground  as  does 
Sir  Henry  Thompson,  believing,  as  do  many-thought- 
ful physicians  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic,  that  as 
we  advance  in  civilization  the  use  of  meat  will  lessen 
more  and  more. 

So  widely  is  this  belief  spreading  in  England  that 
I^ondon  has  now  over  a  dozen  well  kept  vegetarian 
restaurants.  In  one  of  these  which  I  have  frequented, 
may  be  seen  swarms  of  students  and  clerks  from  White- 
hall (the  War  Ofi&ce)  and  the  offices  of  the  London 
County  Council.  Vegetarianism  is  generally  under- 
stood to  exclude  all  mineral  products,  but  this  is  an 
error.  Milk,  eggs,  butter,  and  cheese  are  all  used  freely 
in  these  restaurants,  and  fruit  in  profusion. 

Probabl}^  the  best  and  most  scientific  presentation  of 


1 6  2  Household  Economics, 

the  claims  of  vegetarianism  is  that  contained  in  a  little 
book  by  Dr.  Anna  Kingsford.  The  Perfect  Way  in 
Diet.  It  is  the  expansion  of  a  thesis  prepared  for  her 
graduation  from  the  Ecole  de  Medicine,  of  Paris,  and 
which  was  so  brilliant  a  piece  of  work  that  on  its  publi- 
cation it  was  crowned  by  the  French  Academy,  the 
highest  distinction  that  a  book  can  receive  in  France. 
We  have  not  time  now  to  consider  its  argument,  be- 
yond pointing  out  that  whoever  has  once  watched  the 
unloading  of  a  stock  car,  and  seen  the  wretched  ani- 
mals parched  with  thirst  and  quivering  from  the  con- 
finement of  the  long  journey  and  from  fear  as  they  are 
driven  to  the  slaughter  houses,  such  a  one  will  realize 
that  the  flesh  through  which  such  fevered  blood  has 
coursed  is  hardly  wholesome  food  for  man.  And  if  we 
still  demand  it  three  times  or  even  once  a  day,  it  is  at 
least  worth  while  to  know  whatever  scientific  reasons 
exist  against  it,  and  to  meditate  on  their  significance. 

For  this  country,  vegetarianism  took  on  its  most 
radical  and  least  desirable  form, — the  Grahamites  re- 
nouncing most  things  but  bran  bread  and  dried  apples. 
I  have  seen  Grahamite  pies  composed  of  Graham  flour 
and  water  for  crust  and  sugarless,  spiceless  stewed  dried 
apples  for  contents.  Salt,  butter,  eggs,  in  short  every 
relishable  thing,  was  forbidden,  and  naturally,  ordinary 
flesh  and  blood  rebelled.  But  the  new  order  invites 
rather  than  repels,  and  the  student  especially  finds  that 
working  power  increases  and  that  the  brain  is  clearer 
for  a  vegetarian  diet, — two  good  reasons  for  experi- 
menting with  it  at  least. 

The  old  belief  of  dieticians,  **  Without  phosphorus 
no  thinking,"  has  passed  away,  minute  experiment 
having  demonstrated  that  the  amount  of  phosphorus 
passing  through  the  system  bears  no  relation  to  the  in- 


The  Nutritio7i  of  the  Household.        163 

tensity  or  extensiveness  of  thought.  '  *  A  captive  Hon, ' ' 
writes  Dr.  Chambers,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of 
English  authorities  on  diet  ;  "a  leopard  or  hare  which 
can  have  wonderfully  little  to  think  about,  assimilates 
and  parts  with  a  greater  quantity  of  phosphorus  than 
a  professor  of  chemistry  working  hard  in  his  labora- 
tory ;  while  a  beaver,  who  always  seems  to  be  contriv- 
ing something,  excretes  so  little  phosphorus  that 
chemical  analysis  cannot  detect  it." 

Fish,  eggs,  and  oj^sters  have  been  ordered  for  stu- 
dents because  rich  in  phosphorus.  The  real  reason  is 
that  all  are  easily  digested,  and  the  student  who,  unless 
he  goes  in  for  athletics,  leads  a  rather  inactive  life  as  to 
his  muscles,  does  not  need  the  heavy  food  of  the  la- 
borer. Frequent  small  supplies  of  good  and  easily  di- 
gested food  are  what  is  needed  for  all  brain  workers, 
and  the  students'  dietaries  now  in  use  in  Chicago  Uni- 
versity and  other  institutions  are  made  on  this  plan. 

We  are  far  more  apt  to  eat  too  much  than  too  little, 
and  often  in  turn  a  heavy  meal  may  be  so  badly  planned 
as  to  mean  by  no  means  enough  real  nourishment.  All 
this  we  shall  gradually  learn  in  detail,  and  in  good 
time  food  principles  will  be  taught  as  naturally  and  as 
widely  as  the  multiplication  table,  and  every  child  know 
understandingly  the  constituents  of  food  and  what  is 
needed  at  every  stage  of  life.  And  if  this  seems  im- 
possible, let  me  add  that  I  have  seen  it  done,  the  chil- 
dren taking  it  in  as  unconsciously  and  as  permanently 
as  the  children  of  one  of  our  famous  anatomists  got  to 
know  every  bone  in  the  body  from  playing  with  bones 
and  manikins. 

It  must  by  this  time  be  quite  evident  that  the  build- 
ing of  a  beautiful  human  body  is  something  in  great 
degree  in  our  own  hands.     Raisers  of  cattle  and  of 


164  Household  Economics. 

poultry  have  loug  known  that  proper  feeding  determined 
the  nature  of  the  product.  Cows  are  fed  in  one  way 
for  milk  and  in  another  for  cream  ;  hens  in  one  way  for 
eggs  and  in  quite  another  way  for  fattening  for  market. 
But  the  same  man  who  studies  every  fresh  fact  he  can 
obtain  bearing  on  methods  of  feeding,  and  who  experi- 
ments carefully  on  his  own  account  in  feeding  his 
stock,  groans  with  dyspepsia  and  pooh-poohs  any  study 
of  human  dietaries.  Yet  till  these  are  studies,  not  in 
the  fussy  method  of  invalid  or  crank,  but  as  part  of  the 
necessary,  quietly  assimilated  knowledge  that  makes 
all  genuine  culture,  we  shall  fall  short  of  the  thing  we 
might  have  been. 

The  ancient  Greek  had  little  chemical  knowledge, 
but  he  had  intuition  and  superb  common  sense.  The 
yearly  games  were  prepared  for  by  long  courses  of  rigor- 
ous diet,  precisely  as  our  modern  athlete  trains, — and 
baths  and  rubbings  and  all  methods  of  strengthening 
were  then  far  better  and  more  general  than  ours. 

In  the  Elmira  Reformatory  many  remarkable  experi- 
ments in  this  line  have  been  tried  on  young  criminals, 
whose  ill-fed,  ill-nurtured  bodies  have  seemed  to  re- 
ceive new  souls  and  to  take  on  forms  of  health  and 
beauty  one  would  have  declared  impossible  to  them. 
Mal-nutrition  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  defects  which  Dr. 
Sargent  notes  as  marking  the  figures  of  American 
college  men  and  college  women  ;  these  defects  being 
summed  up  in  the  composite  statue  of  each  shown 
at  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago.  Underfed  or  over- 
fed, the  result  is  in  either  case  defective  lines  and 
destruction  of  the  beauty  which  ought  to  be  a  national 
characteristic. 

Realize,  then,  before  we  pass  on  to  the  second  part 
of   our  subject, — the  chemical  properties   of  foods, — 


The  Nzitrition  of  the  Household,         165 

what  it  is  that  we  are  doing,  and  how  absolutely  what 
we  are  doing  takes  hold  of  the  very  springs  of  life. 
Believe  it,  for  without  belief  it  has  no  real  place  with 
us.  I^et  each  one  of  us  who  would  see  it  grow, — who 
know  the  body  as  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
who  would  have  that  temple  fair  and  fine  and  firm  in 
every  line  and  in  every  innermost  recess, — study  these 
laws  of  food,  and  know  that  in  studying  them  we  build 
not  only  for  ourselves,  but  also  for  our  children  and  our 
children's  children. 

BIBWOGRAPHY    AND   RKFKRKNCKS. 

*'  Influence  of  Foods  on  Civilization,"  by  R.  A.  Proctor,  North 

American  Review,  vol.  cxxxv.,  p.  547. 
**  Science  Applied  to  the  Production  and  Consumption  of  Food," 

by  Edward  Atkinson.    Science,  vol.  vi.,  p.  234. 
The  Easiest  Way,  by  Helen  Campbell,  chaps,  vii.  to  ix. 
The  Physiology  of  Coinmon  Life,  by  George  Henry  Lewes. 
The  Chemistry  of  Common  Life,  by  James  F.  W.  Johnston. 
The  Handbook  of  Household  Scie7ice,  by  Edward  Youmans. 
Food  and  Feeding,  by  Sir  Henry  Thompson. 
The  Philosophy  of  Eating,  by  A.  J.  Bellows. 
A  Course  of  Practical  Elementary  Biology,  by  John  Bidgood. 
Food,  by  A.  H.  Church. 

The  Chemistry  of  Cookery,  by  W.  Mathieu  Williams. 
The  Perfect  Way  in  Diet,  by  Dr.  Anna  Kingsford. 
Foods,  by  Edward  Smith. 
Food  and  Dietetics,  by  Dr.  Chambers. 
Food  and  Dietetics,  by  Dr.  Pavy. 
Food  and  Digestion,  by  Dr.  Brinton. 
Food,  by  Dr.  Letheby. 

Text-Book  of  Physiology,  by  M.  Foster,  M.D. 
How  Plants  Grow,  by  Asa  Gray. 
The  Vegetable  Kingdom,  by  E.  A.  Rand. 
What  to  Eat  and  How  to  Eat  It,  by  R.  F.  Beardsley. 
Food  in  Health  and  Disease,  by  B.  Burney  Yeo,  M.D. 


1 66  Household  Eco7tomics, 

Outlines  for  the  Management  of  Diet,  by  Dr.  Edward  Tunis 

Bruen. 
Foods  for  the  Fat,  edited  by  Dr.  C.  W.  Greene. 
Food  for  the  Invalid,  the  Convalescent,  the  Dyspeptic  and  the 

Gouty,  by  Dr.  J.  Milner  Fothergill. 
The  Science  of  Nutrition,  by  Edward  Atkinson. 
Principles  of  Chemical  Philosophy,  by  Josiala  Cooke. 
Inorganic  Chemistry,  by  Dr.  Remsen. 
Human  Physiology,  by  Landis  and  Sterling. 
Organic  Chemistry,  by  Dr.  Remsen. 
Physiological  Chemistry   of  the   Animal   Body,    by  Arthur 

Gamgee. 
Chemistry  of  Daily  Life,  Lassar-Cohn. 
Chemie   der  menschlichen   Nahrungs   und   Genussmittel,  J. 

Kcenig. 
How  to  Feed  Children,  Louise  Hogan. 
Dietetics,  by  Gilman  Thompson. 
The  Spirit  of  Cookery,  J.  L.  W.  Thudicum. 
A  Text-Book  of  Physiological  Chemistry,  Hammersten. 
Dietetic  Value  of  Bread,  John  Good  fellow. 
A    Text-Book  of  Inorganic  Chemistry,  by  Prof.   Victor  von 

Richter.    Translated  by  Prof.  Edgar  F.  Smith.     P.  Blakis- 

ton,  Son  &  Co.,  Philadelphia. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
FOOD  AND  ITS  PREPARATION. 

Chemical  Properties  of  Foods — Animal  and  Vegetable  Foods  ; 
Mineral  Constituents — Nutritive  Values — Our  Food  Supply 
"From  the  Ground  Up  " — Preparatory  Processes,  General 
and  Special — Diets — Vegetarianism— The  Cooking  Animal 
— Cooking  as  an  Art,  a  Science,  a  Handicraft,  a  Profession 
— Apparatus  and  Methods — Primitive  ;  Ancient  ;  Modem  ; 
Local — Our  Advance  in  this  Art  as  Compared  with  Others 
— Dietaries  for  Infancy,  Childhood,  Youth,  Maturity,  Age, 
and  for  the  Sick — Markets  and  Marketing — Adulteration — 
Supervision  of  Foods — Civilized  Living. 

WHILE  the  question  of  the  actual  chemical  prop- 
erties of  foods  is  under  steady  investigation, 
various  German  chemists  especially  having 
devoted  their  lives  to  it,  there  are  certain  foundation 
facts  that  remain  practically  unaltered.  Chemistry 
itself  progresses  so  swiftly  that  each  decade  wipes  out 
almost  absolutely  the  work  of  the  previous  one,  and  in 
the  words  of  Josiali  Cooke,  the  famous  professor  of 
chemistry  at  Harvard,  to  his  students,  ''Except  for 
historic  purposes,  look  at  no  treatise  written  over  ten 
years  ago."  Fortunately  for  our  purpose,  it  is  names 
rather  than  facts  that  have  changed.  The  older  works 
on  food  and  its  composition  may  still  be  followed, 
though  the  student  must  alw^ays  bear  in  mind  the 
changes  in  terms  and  measurements.      But  for   our 

167 


1 68  Hotisehold  Economics, 

purpose,  we  have  simply  to  keep  in  mind  that  of  the 
various  elements  shown  by  chemistry  to  exist  in  na- 
ture, only  a  few  enter  into  the  composition  of  the 
human  body,  the  first  four,  carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen, 
and  nitrogen  being  in  far  larger  quantity  than  any  of 
the  others.  These  are  followed  in  always  diminishing 
quantity  by  sulphur,  phosphor,  chlorine,  sodium,  potas- 
sium, calcium,  magnesium,  iron,  fluorine,  silicon,  man- 
ganese, aluminium,  and  copper, — this  last  being  the 
merest  trace  or  suggestion. 

Food,  then,  must  contain  all  these  elements,  since  in 
the  act  of  living  we  perpetually  destroy  and  must  per- 
petually renew.  But  as  simple  elements,  they  are  use- 
less ;  not  only  must  they  combine,  but  the  combination 
must  be  formed  by  the  agenc}^  of  a  living  organism, 
taking  form  as  an  organic  product.  These  take  the 
form  of  elementary  products,  and  by  their  analysis  we 
come  to  alimentary  principles,  animal  and  vegetable 
foods,  and  their  mineral  constituents  falling  into  line 
and  presenting  five  groups  whose  arrangement  has 
given  infinite  thought  to  the  chemist.  We  cannot  di- 
vide food  simpl}'  into  food  and  drink,  since  the  latter, 
if  milk,  for  instance,  may  be  more  really  rich  in  nourish- 
ment than  are  many  solid  forms.  Nitrogen  is  a  large 
part  of  the  composition  of  the  animal  body,  but  we 
cannot  draw  it  from  the  air,  of  which  it  makes  four 
fifths,  as  we  do  our  oxygen,  but  must  take  it  always 
in  a  state  of  combination.  Albumen,  casein,  fibrine, 
and  half  a  dozen  lesser  combinations,  contain  it  in  full 
measure  for  our  needs  ;  all  being  found  in  meats,  fish, 
eggs,  milk  and  its  products,  wheat  and  other  cereals, 
and  many  of  the  vegetables.  These  make  our  first 
group,  but  as  each  is  more  or  less  dependent  upon  the 
other,  we  will  take  them  in  the  natural  order  : 


Food  and  its  Preparation,  1 69 

1.  Water. 

2.  Nitrogenous  principles,  called  now,  more  often, 
proteids. 

3.  H3^drocarbons,  or  fats,  otherwise  calorics. 

4.  Carbohydrates,  as  starch,  sugar,  gum. 

5.  Inorganic  materials,  salt,  etc. 

There  are  a  few  principles  wdiicli  do  not  fall  strictly 
within  any  of  these  groups,  alcohol,  vegetable  acids, 
and  pectin  or  vegetable  jelly  being  the  chief.  But  for 
all  ordinary  purposes  these  five  are  the  divisions  it  is 
our  business  to  understand.  The  hydrocarbons,  or 
fats,  consist  of  carbon  and  hydrogen  in  combination 
with  only  a  very  small  portion  of  oxygen.  The  car- 
bohydrates, or  sugars,  are  carbon,  oxygen,  and  hydro- 
gen, the  last  two  always  in  such  exact  proportion  to 
each  other  as  to  form  water,  and  both  fats  and  car- 
bohydrates coming  under  the  head  of  non-nitrogenous 
principles.  Water  leads,  because  our  bodies  when 
fully  grown  are  made  up  of  about  two  thirds  of  water, 
and  the  food  we  eat  contains  from  one  to  ninety-five 
per  cent,  of  it. 

The  proteids  or  albumens  are  familiar  to  us  in  the  lean 
of  meat,  in  eggs,  and  in  cheese,  the  amount  of  this  prin- 
ciple varying  greatly.  The  lean  of  meat  has  from  15 
to  21  per  cent.  ;  eggs,  in  both  white  and  yolk,  12.5 
per  cent.  ;  fresh  cow's  milk,  3.4  per  cent.  ;  cheese,  25 
to  30  ;  dried  codfish,  30;  wheat  flour,  10  to  12  ;  peas, 
beans,  and  lentils,  22.85  to  27.7  per  cent. 

Fats  or  hydrocarbons  we  have  from  both  animal  and 
vegetable  kingdoms,  the  cereals,  like  corn  and  oats, 
containing  from  4  to  7  per  cent,  of  fat. 

The  carbohydrates  are  chiefly  of  a  vegetable  nature, 
the  housekeepers  knowing  them  as  starches  and  sugars, 
— under  the  starches  being  included  all  the  starches  of 


1 70  Ho2iseholcl  Economics, 

grains  and  seeds,  Iceland  moss,  gums  and  dextrin. 
Salts,  as  calcium  phosphate,  or  lime,  and  common  salt, 
give  hardness  to  the  bones  ;  but  both  these  and  water 
can  be  dismissed.  The  remaining  three  are  known 
under  other  names  ;  the  proteids  as  "  flesh  foods,"  the 
fats  as  "  heat  foods,"  and  the  carbohydrates  as  "  work 
foods."  And  fight  as  the  various  schools  may  over 
details,  these  divisions  remain  the  most  expressive  of 
real  facts.  We  are  as  bodies  nearly  one  half  muscle, 
and  this  muscle  is  one  fifth  proteid,  and  the  nitrogen 
of  this  proteid  must  be  furnished  by  proteid  again, 
because  neither  fats  nor  carbohydrates  contain  it. 
Every  bill  of  fare,  then,  must  provide  for  it ;  the  body, 
even  when  idle,  cannot  do  without  it. 

Two  famous  chemists,  Voit  and  Pettenkofer  of 
Munich,  have  experimented  so  faithfully  and  minutely 
that  they  have  accounted  for  every  particle  of  food  that 
passed  through  the  body  of  a  man.  They  have  noted 
also  how  much  of  his  own  body  wasted  away  when  he 
ate  nothing.  On  this  basis  they  constructed  ' '  standard 
dietaries,"  that  is  to  say  tables  showing  the  average 
amount  of  each  of  the  chief  food  principles  that  are 
required  to  keep  an  average  muscle  w^orker  in  good 
condition  when  doing  average  work. 

In  England,  much  the  same  conclusions  were  reached ; 
but  in  that  country  no  attention  had  been  paid  to  the 
matter  till  in  1862  and  1863,  starvation  threatened 
among  the  cotton  spinners  in  Lancashire  and  Cheshire. 
Dr.  Edward  Smith,  whose  book  on  Foods  is  one  of 
the  most  compact  and  valuable  in  existence,  was  com- 
missioned by  the  British  Government  to  examine  into 
the  dietetic  needs  of  the  operatives,  and  in  a  report  pub- 
lished in  1863,  he  gives  tables  showing  the  food  con- 
sumed per  week  by  634  families,  classifying  the  amount 


Food  and  its  Preparation,  1 71 

of  the  different  food  principles.  It  was  determined 
then  that  the  lowest  amount  of  food  on  which  an 
unemployed  man  can  keep  off  starvation  is  35  ounces 
of  good  bread  and  enough  wholesome  water  to  satisfy 
thirst  daily. 

Coming  now  to  the  actual  amounts  of  food  principles 
required  for  a  workingman  of  average  size,  we  have  : 

Proteids.  Fats.  Carbohydrates. 

118  grammes  56  grammes  500  grammes. 

One  ounce  contains  28.34  grammes,  and  the  word 
has  replaced  all  old-fashioned  methods  of  averaging  by 
grains,  ounces,  and  pounds.  So  it  must  be  carried 
firmly  in  your  minds  until  its  use  becomes  second 
nature.  Most  of  these  proteids  must  come  from  the 
animal  kingdom,  and  if  represented  by  fresh  beef,  230 
grammes  would  be  required, — this  consisting  of  18 
grammes  of  bone  and  tendon,  21  of  fat,  and  191  of  lean. 
In  the  city  of  Berlin  the  daily  average  consumption  of 
meat  is  135  grammes  per  capita ;  in  New  York,  226 
grammes  ;  in  London,  274  ;  but  the  last  is  too  high,  the 
well-to-do  eating  much  more  meat  than  their  bodies 
need,  and  paying  the  penalty  in  gout,  rheumatism,  and 
kidney  disease. 

The  German  soldier  in  garrison  is  allowed  120 
grammes  of  proteids,  56  of  fats,  500  of  carbohydrates. 
Professor  Atwater,  one  of  our  highest  authorities  on 
food,  allows  150  grammes  of  proteids,  150  of  fats,  500  of 
carbohydrates,  for  an  American  at  hard  work,  as  we 
work  faster  and  our  climate  is  more  exacting  than  that 
of  Europe.  Compare  this  with  the  ordinary  food  of 
a  poor  North  German  family,  a  man,  wife,  and  child 
five  years  old,  whose  dietary  Professor  Boehm  recorded 
for  a  week,  and  which  consisted  of :  Potatoes,  41  lbs.  ; 


172  Household  Economics. 

rye  flour,  25  lbs.  ;  meat  if  lbs.  ;  rice,  5  lbs.  ;  rye  bread, 
12  lbs.,  and  a  very  little  milk.  Translating  this  into 
food  principles,  we  have  for  the  three  persons  per  day  : 

Proteids.  Fats.  Carbohydrates. 

175.5  gms.  41  gms.  12.51  gms. 

This  is  not  only  very  insufficient  in  amount,  but 
also  absolutely'  wrong  in  proportion.  And  at  this 
point  I  may  add  a  word  as  to  potatoes  for  food.  Long 
ago  William  Cobbett  denounced  the  potato  as  a  staple 
article  of  food.  That  it  is  a  cheap  food  is  a  popular 
delusion,  25  lbs.  of  potatoes  being  required  to  supply 
the  amount  of  carbon  contained  in  i  lb.  of  bread,  while 
35  lbs.  are  needed  to  furnish  the  nitrogen  in  i  lb.  of 
bread.  One  pound  of  oat-meal  is  worth  six  pounds  of 
potatoes,  containing  as  it  does  73  per  cent,  of  carbon, 
as  against  the  17  per  cent,  of  carbon  in  potatoes. 

Mathieu  Williams,  whose  book.  The  Chemistry  of 
Cookery,  is  invaluable  to  every  investigator,  says  of 
the  potato : 

"The  bulk  that  has  to  be  eaten,  and  is  eaten,  in  order  to 
sustain  life,  converts  the  potato  feeder  into  a  mere  assimilat- 
ing machine  during  a  large  part  of  the  day,  and  renders  him 
unfit  for  any  kind  of  vigorous  mental  or  bodily  exertion.  If 
I  were  the  autocratic  Czar  of  Ireland,  my  first  step  towards  the 
regeneration  of  the  Irish  people  would  be  the  introduction, 
acclimatizing  and  dissemination  of  the  Colorado  beetle,  in 
order  to  produce  a  complete  and  permanent  potato  famine. 
The  efiPect  of  potato  feeding  may  be  studied  by  watching  the 
work  of  a  potato  fed  Irish  mower  or  reaper  who  comes  across 
to  work  upon  an  English  farm  where  the  harvestmen  are  fed 
in  the  farmhouse  and  the  supply  of  beer  is  not  excessive.  The 
improvement  of  his  working  powers  after  two  or  three  weeks 
of  English  feeding  is  comparable  to  that  of  a  horse  when  fed 
upon  corn,  beans,  and  hay,  after  feeding  for  a  year  on  grass 
only." 


jFood  and  its  Preparation,  1 73 

Summing  up,  then,  as  to  nutritive  values,  we  know 
that  we  must  call  proteids,  otherwise  nitrogenous  or 
albuminous  foods,  whether  drawn  from  the  animal  or 
vegetable  kingdom,  as  principles  absolutely  essential 
to  human  life.  To  do  their  work  in  the  best  way,  they 
must  be  taken  in  easily  digestible  forms  and  be  easily 
assimilated  by  the  organism.  Their  relative  dietetic 
value  is  therefore  determined  by  their  digestibility. 
If  of  two  foods  of  like  composition  one  is  more  easily 
digested  than  the  other,  it  is  for  this  reason  a  more 
valuable  food  stuff,  and  this  value  depends  not  only 
upon  its  intrinsic  quality,  that  is  to  say,  whether  it 
comes  from  the  animal  or  vegetable  kingdom  with  its 
chemical  peculiarities,  but  upon  how  it  has  been  pre- 
pared for  digestion. 

To  secure  the  most  appetizing  result  is  one  province 
of  cooking,  and  this  matter  of  flavor  is  quite  apart 
from  the  working  constituents  of  food. 

"A  pinch  of  pepper,  a  cup  of  coffee,  a  fine  juicy 
strawberry, — what  of  these?"  writes  Mrs.  Abel  in 
her  admirable  treatise  on  Practical  Sanitary  and  Eco- 
nomic  Cooking,  which  received  the  Ivomb  prize  from 
the  American  Public  Health  Association.  "They 
may  contain  all  five  of  the  food  principles,  but  who 
cares  for  the  proteid  action,  or  carbohydrate  efiect  of 
his  cup  of  good  coffee  at  breakfast,  or  what  interest 
for  us  has  the  heating  effect  of  the  volatile  oil  to  which 
the  strawberry  owes  a  part  of  its  delicious  taste  ?  ' ' 

Flavor,  savoriness,  are  all  aids  to  digestion,  but  this 
means  something  very  different  from  our  American 
theory  of  black  pepper  besprinkling  everything.  The 
use  of  sweet  herbs,  bay  leaf,  parsley,  spices,  are 
regarded  as  a  foreign  fashion,  and  the  American  who 
says  :  ' '  Give  me  good  plain  cooking  !  ' '  has  his  national 


174  Household  Economics, 

portion  of  dj^spepsia  in  large  part  because  of  the  lack 
of  intelligent  use  of  these  things ; — what  the  German 
calls  "  Genussmittel  " — pleasure-giving  things.  The 
plainest,  simplest,  food  by  their  use  is  made  enjoj^able, 
and  this  is  far  removed  from  the  heavy  over-seasoning 
of  what  we  know  as  "  made  dishes." 

Only  the  fringes  of  this  phase  can  be  touched  upon 
here,  but  all  of  us  may  turn  to  Mathieu  Williams's 
delightful  book,  The  Chemistry  of  Cookery,  or  to  Mrs. 
Abel's  equally  valuable  monograph,  including  also  the 
Rumford  Kitchen  Leaflets,  and  study  out  for  our- 
selves the  things  we  could  easily  have  learned  in  child- 
hood, since  our  cooking  schools  now  teach  food 
principles  and  proportions,  and  food  charts  are  now 
provided  in  all  of  them.  The  knowledge  should  be 
so  thoroughly  learned  as  to  become  an  instinct,  and 
to  meet  the  varying  needs  of  a  large  family  without 
this  knowledge  is  merel}^  fumbling  in  the  dark. 

All  this  brings  us  naturally  to  the  fact  which  is  a 
portion  of  our  evolution,  and  a  part  of  the  definition 
we  are  at  last  compelled  to  accept. 

In  the  many  attempts  which  have  been  made  to  dif- 
ferentiate man  from  the  other  animals  by  one  telling 
phrase,  that  which  describes  him  as  "the  cooking 
animal"  is  as  good  as  any.  He  is  distinctively  that ; 
and  cooking  is  a  process  as  essential  as  it  is  distinctive. 
It  is  essential  to  our  humanness  in  that  by  minifying  the 
difficulties  of  digestion  it  sets  free  more  energy  to  add 
to  our  superior  powers,  and  that  in  artfully  mingling 
and  suppl3nng  the  needed  elements,  it  increases  our 
length  and  strength  of  life. 

Human  life,  modern  human  life,  is  complex.  Grass 
maintains  the  cow,  but  the  cow  is  not  of  a  sprightly 
intelligence,  neither  is  the  sheep.     A  handful  of  dates 


Food  and  its  Preparation.  175 

feeds  the  Arab,  a  cucumber  the  Turkish  porter,  a  strip 
of  raw  blubber  the  Esquimau  ;  but  the  needs  of  civiliza- 
tion call  for  other  faculties  than  are  possessed  by  these. 
The  simply  fed  Arab  is  healthy — so  is  the  cow.  The 
Turkish  porter  is  strong — so  is  the  horse.  The  Esqui- 
mau has  no  dyspepsia  that  I  know  of,  neither  has  he 
anything  to  boast  of  in  either  politics  or  religion. 
Civilized  life  is  full  of  changeful  demands  on  the 
human  system  ;  sudden  drains  and  strains  occur ; 
complexities  of  wear  and  tear,  varying  periods  of 
physical  and  mental  outlay,  which  have  to  be  met  by 
varying  supplies  of  nutrition.  Civilized  life  is  none 
the  less  *  *  natural ' '  for  being  thus  complex.  It  is  a 
great  mistake  to  suppose  nature  is  always  simple.  She 
stops  at  nothing  in  intricacy,  and  we  need  never  fear 
passing  the  bounds  of  "  natural"  living,  so  long  as 
we  keep  well.  But  the  health  of  a  modern  man  is  not 
to  be  maintained  by  the  regimen  suitable  for  an  oyster,  or 
a  goat,  or  even  a  pig.  Simplicity  is  not  his  main  de- 
mand ;  nor  elaborate  and  strange  articles,  or  a  coarse 
abundance.  He  needs  an  intelligent  provision,  a  flexi- 
ble and  variable  food  supply,  presenting  alv/ays  the 
essential  elements,  but  varying  in  combination  as  his 
needs  require. 

The  service  of  cooking  in  reducing  effort  for  the 
alimentary  machinery  is  also  perfectly  natural.  Nat- 
ure always  follows  the  line  of  least  resistance,  and  her 
labor-saving  inventions  surpass  Connecticut's.  One 
of  the  main  lines  of  advance  in  nature  is  towards  the 
saving  of  energy,  and  the  life  of  man,  being  always 
within  nature,  does  not  herein  depart  from  it.  But  it 
is  no  saving  of  energy  for  the  human  race  to  have 
more  spent  in  the  cooking  of  the  food  than  there  is 
saved  in  the  eating  of  the  cooked  food.     Our  present 


176  Household  Economics, 

system,  whereby  six  hours  of  working  time  are  spent 
in  handling  food  by  half  the  adult  population,  is  not 
at  all  justified  by  the  very  inferior  product  of  all  this 
crude  labor.  You  may  think  this  is  a  high  estimate, 
but  a  preceding  lecture  has  proven  that  it  is  not. 

The  reason  that  cooking  so  fails  of  its  purpose,  is 
that  its  practice  is  far  below  the  rank  of  other  human 
industries,  and  therefore  oftener  more  of  a  hindrance 
than  a  help.  If  man's  clothes  were  made  as  badly  as 
his  bread  is,  or  man's  houses  constructed  with  as  little 
success  as  his  dinners,  there  would  be  the  same  com- 
plaint raised  in  regard  to  tailoring  and  building  as  is 
now  heard  over  cooking,  and  numbers  of  shortsighted 
reformers  would  clamor  for  a  return  to  the  simpler 
living  of  the  coat  of  skins  and  the  hollow  tree.  It  is  a 
disgraceful  position  for  humanity  to  turn  tail  in  the 
great  march  forward ;  to  return  to  the  kindergarten 
because  the  universit}^  is  too  complex  ;  to  * '  want  to  go 
home"  because  the  journej^  is  long  and  hard.  We 
wish  to  answer  questions,  not  beg  them  ;  to  conquer 
our  diflSculties,  not  yearn  for  savagery  because  civiliza- 
tion is  more  laborious. 

Cooking  holds  varied  place  in  relation  to  humanity. 
In  the  large  sociologic  sense,  it  is  simply  a  nutritive 
function  of  the  race,  one  of  our  distinguishing  tertiary 
processes,  as  natural  and  necessary  as  mastication  on 
the  one  hand  or  transportation  on  the  other.  But  in 
the  more  common  way  of  looking  at  life,  it  is  to  us, 
among  our  other  human  uses,  an  Art,  a  Science,  a 
Handicraft,  and  a  Professson.  These  essentially  and 
always.  Superficially,  it  is  now  two  things  more  :  a 
Trade  and  a  Ser\^ice. 

That  it  is  a  Trade,  under  our  existing  system,  brings 
into  play   the  enormous  element  of  adulteration, — of 


Food  ajid  its  Preparation,  177 

which  I  shall  speak  later  ;  that  preposterous  process  by 
which  a  reasonable  race  deliberately  weakens  and 
poisons  its  own  food  ! 

That  it  is  a  Service,  leaves  the  pursuance  of  this  Art, 
Science,  Craft,  and  Profession  in  the  hands  of  the  least 
capable  people  among  us,  a  piece  of  imbecility  under 
which  we  sulQfer  extensively.  Apart  from  these  two 
gross  abuses,  which  are  by  no  means  permanent,  let  us 
look  at  the  four-faced  function  more  seriously.  It  is  a 
profession  or  calling,  because  its  right  performance 
requires  the  specialization  of  individuals  to  that  service. 
It  cannot  be  rightly  pursued  by  a  person  who  has  other 
things  to  do ;  note  that  from  the  present  standing  of 
household  industry  !  To  say  that  our  women  should 
each  and  all  be  trained  cooks  because  humanity  needs 
trained  cooks,  is  like  demanding  that  they  should  be 
trained  physicians,  architects,  etc.  The  Cook  is  a 
needed  functionary  all  by  himself,  or  herself. 

It  is  a  Craft,  because  much  manual  dexterity  is  re- 
quired of  the  trained  cook,  a  thing  not  called  for  by  the 
profession  of  the  law,  the  church,  or  medicine.  Cooking 
has  at  once  the  dignity  of  a  profession  from  its  close 
relation  to  deep  human  needs  ;  and  the  usefulness  of  a 
craft  in  the  skill  used  in  dail}^  and  unfamiliar  practice. 

It  is  a  Science,  because  it  involves  a  knowledge  of 
laws  of  its  own,  a  science  as  much  as  medicine,  and 
being  all  to  health  that  medicine  means  to  disease. 
And  as  the  science  of  medicine  involves  on  the  one 
hand  knowledge  of  the  body  to  be  treated,  and  on  the 
other  the  substances  used  in  treating  it,  so  does  the 
science  of  food  involve  the  same  knowledge, — and 
need  for  its  much  more  constant  use.  When  our  cooks 
are  as  w^ise  as  our  physicians,  our  physicians  may  all 
turn  cooks.     Their  old  occupation  will  be  gone. 


178  Household  Economics. 

What  the  skilled  ph3'sician  does  after  we  are  sick, 
the  skilled  cook  does  before ;  puts  into  our  bodies 
something  to  help  them  work  rightl}^  The  work  of 
the  physician  as  compared  with  that  of  the  cook  is  the 
work  of  a  mere  tinker,  cobbler,  darner,  and  mender, 
compared  to  the  work  of  the  smith  and  the  shoemaker, 
the  composer  and  constructor  of  any  kind.  The  cook 
makes,  the  physician  mends.  But  alas !  the  cook 
makes  so  ill,  that  all  the  physician's  mending  is  of 
no  avail, — he  makes  mischief  daily,  yes,  tri-daily, 
mischief  often  past  finding  out.  And  what  won- 
der when  we  choose  for  arbiters  of  our  physical 
well-being  the  lowest  and  least  educated  minds 
among  us. 

Still  further,  cooking  is  an  Art.  This  the  other  sci- 
ences and  professions  are  not.  It  is  a  craft,  remember, 
in  that  it  requires  manual  dexterity ;  a  profession,  in 
that  it  requires  highly  trained  service  ;  a  science,  in 
that  it  involves  wide,  deep,  and  exact  knowledge  ;  and 
beyond  all  these  it  is  an  Art — the  highest  form  of 
human  activity — in  that  it  is  open  to  direct  inspiration 
of  genius  ;  is  a  form  of  expression.  To  the  highly 
organized  cook,  the  cook  "born,  not  made,"  there  are 
primal  flavors  like  the  primal  colors,  with  all  their 
infinite  shadings  and  blendings,  harmonies,  and  con- 
trasts ;  there  are  dominant  tastes  like  the  dominant 
chord  in  music,  with  all  subtle  variations  and  expan- 
sions ;  there  are  moods  to  be  expressed,  schemes  to  be 
carried  out,  all  as  legitimate  and  elevating  and  noble 
and  useful  as  are  the  other  arts. 

A  menu  has  even  been  made  the  vehicle  for  a  decla- 
ration of  love,  as  witness  that  famous  one  of  the  French 
chef  in  Peyidennis,  which  Thackeray  is  said  to  have 
taken  from  life. 


Food  and  its  Preparation.  1 79 

**  I  declared  myself  to  her,"  said  Alcide,  laying  his  hand  on 
his  heart,  **in  a  manner  which  was  as  novel  as  I  am  charmed 
to  think  it  was  agreeable.  Where  cannot  love  penetrate,  re- 
spectable Madame  Fribsbi  ?  Cupid  is  the  father  of  invention ! 
I  inquired  of  the  domestics  what  were  the  plats  of  which  Ma- 
demoiselle partook  with  most  pleasure,  and  built  up  my  little 
batterj'^  accordingly.  On  a  day  when  her  parents  had  gone  to 
dine  in  the  w^orld  (and  I  am  grieved  to  say  that  o. grassier  ^ui- 
ner  at  a  restaurant,  on  the  boulevard,  or  in  the  Palais  Royal, 
seemed  to  form  the  delights  of  these  unrefined  persons),  the 
charming  Miss  entertained  some  comrades  of  the  pension  ;  and 
I  advised  myself  to  send  up  a  little  repast  suitable  to  delicate 
young  palates.  Her  lovely  name  is  Blanche.  The  veil  of  the 
maiden  is  white  ;  the  wreath  of  roses  which  she  wears  is  white. 
I  determined  that  my  dinner  should  be  as  spotless  as  the  snow. 
At  her  accustomed  hour,  and  instead  of  the  xvAo:  gigot  h  Veau 
which  was  ordinarily  served  at  her  too  simple  table,  I  sent  her 
up  a  little  potage  h  la  reine—d,  la  Reine  Blanche  I  called  it, — 
as  white  as  her  own  tint — and  confectioned  with  the  most  fra- 
grant cream  and  almonds.  I  then  oflfered  up  at  her  shrine  a 
filet  de  merlan  ct  V  Agjies  and  a  delicate  plat  which  I  have 
designated  as  Eperlati  a  la  Sainte  Th^rese,  and  of  which  my 
charming  Miss  partook  wnth  pleasure.  I  followed  this  by  two 
little  entrees  of  sweetbread  and  chicken  ;  and  the  only  brown 
thing  which  I  perm.itted  myself  in  the  entertainment  was  a  lit- 
tle roast  of  lamb,  which  I  laid  in  a  meadow  of  spinaches,  sur- 
rounded with  croustillons,  representing  sheep,  and  ornamented 
with  daisies  and  other  savage  flowers.  After  this  came  my  sec- 
ond service  :  a  pudding  d,  la  Reine  Elizabeth  (who,  Madame 
Fribsbi  knows,  was  a  maiden  princess) ;  a  dish  of  opal  colored 
plover's  eggs,  which  I  called  Nid  de  tourtereaux  h.  la  Rou- 
coule,  placing  in  the  midst  of  them  two  of  those  tender  vola- 
tiles,  billing  each  other  and  confectioned  with  butter  ;  a  basket 
containing  little  gateaux  of  apricots,  which  I  know  all  young 
ladies  adore  ;  and  a  jelly  of  marasquin,  bland,  insinuating,  in- 
toxicating as  the  glance  of  beauty.  This  I  designated  Ambroi- 
sie  de  Calypso  h.  la  Souveraine  de  mon  Cceur.  And  when  the 
ice  was  brought  in — an  ice  of  plombiere  and  cherries — how  do 
you  think  I  had  shaped  them,  Madame  Fribsbi  ?    In  the  form 


i8o  Household  Economics. 

of  two  hearts  united  with  an  arrow,  on  which  I  had  laid,  before 
it  entered,  a  bridal  veil  cut  in  paper,  surmounted  by  a  wreath 
of  virginal  orange  flowers.  I  stood  at  the  door  to  watch  the 
effect  of  this  entr^-.  It  was  but  one  cry  of  admiration.  The 
three  young  ladies  filled  their  glasses  with  the  sparkling  Ay, 
and  carried  me  in  a  toast.  I  heard  it — I  heard  Miss  speak 
of  me  !  I  heard  her  say,  *  Tell  Monsieur  Mirobolant  that  we 
thank  him,  we  admire  him — we  love  him  ! '  My  feet  almost 
failed  me  as  she  spoke." 

At  present,  to  be  sure,  there  is  little  sign  of  this  art 
sense  among  our  cooks  ;  but  what  do  we  expect  ?  We 
may  find  philosophers  among  servants,  but  we  do  not 
find  artists.  The  artist  is  always  free.  If  we  had  a  hired 
poet  or  musician  in  every  household,  or  if  our  poetry 
and  music  were  practised  only  by  the  overworked  and 
uneducated  housewife,  poetry  and  music  would  be  to 
us  only  what  cooking  is  now,  an  ill-performed  duty, 
a  source  of  low  pleasure  and  much  evil. 

Our  apparatus  and  methods  in  cooking  vary  histori- 
cally, locall}^,  and  according  to  means  and  education  ; 
from  the  primitive  hot  stove  and  forked  stick  to  the 
machinery  of  the  modern  first-class  cuisine  ;  from  the 
savage  methods  still  in  use  in  uncivilized  countries  to 
the  intelhgent  methods  of  our  great  centres  of  thought ; 
from  the  miserable  outfit  of  our  poor — of  that  nine 
tenths  of  the  population  who  cannot  earn  enough  to 
live  humanly — to  the  elaborate  and  finical  extremes 
of  the  costly  kitchens  of  the  rich.  Methods  and  appa- 
ratus vary  ;  but  the  needs  of  humanity  do  not  vary 
accordingly,  hence  much  cause  for  our  low  standard 
of  cooking  and  the  ill  effects  thereof. 

From  the  wandering  savage's  fire  of  sticks  to  the 
modern  gas  range  with  all  its  attachments  is  a  marvel- 
lous step,  yet  less  wonderful  to  us  than  the  first  cook- 


Food  and  its  Preparation,  1 8 1 

ing  stove,  which  to  our  Puritan  fathers  seemed  an 
unrighteous  lessening  of  the  work  man,  or  rather 
woman,  must  do  to  properly  live  up  to  the  full  bear- 
ings of  the  curse  laid  upon  toil  in  the  Garden  of  Kden. 
That  misreading  like  many  another  has  delaj^ed  evo- 
lution and  even  to-day  stands  in  the  way  of  women, 
who  have  failed  to  think  out  of  their  prisons  builded 
half  by  themselves,  half  by  the  accumulated  force  of 
tradition  and  custom.  But  far  beyond  coal  or  gas  is  the 
new  power  electricity,  which  in  the  beautiful  electrical 
kitchen  at  the  World's  Fair  of  1893  delighted  the  eyes 
of  all  who  looked.  Its  costliness  was  the  chief  factor 
in  the  way  of  its  general  adoption,  and  while  Tesla  is 
promising  that  it  shall  in  some  not  distant  day  be  cheap 
as  water,  another  inventor  has,  after  long  experiment, 
discovered  a  method  of  producing  the  force  that  will, 
it  is  promised,  be  ready  for  full  application  in  about 
two  years. 

There  is  no  space  here  for  the  telling  of  all  that  is 
involved  in  this  discovery  of  the  electrician.  Dr.  William 
W.  Jacques  of  the  Boston  Institute  of  Technology. 
Like  many  another  hint  of  these  last  3^ears  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  it  holds  a  promise  beyond  any  dream 
of  the  past.  It  is  our  business  to  be  ready  for  it,  and 
all  power  of  thought  and  effort  we  possess  may  well  be 
given  to  the  study  that  must,  if  we  comprehend  it, 
mean  a  reconstruction  of  both  thought  and  action. 

Turning  again  to  this  business  of  cooking,  measure 
for  a  moment  the  advance  we  have  made  in  the  art  as 
compared  with  that  made  in  others.  What  advance 
has  been  made  follows  the  usual  lines  of  human  devel- 
opment, when  specialization  called  for  the  cook,  and 
division  of  labor  gave  him  his  place  ;  then  by  practice 
he  became  modified  to  suit  his  profession,  became  capa- 


1 8  2  Household  Economics, 

ble  of  being  a  cook .  When  his  cooking  was  done  for 
large  numbers  of  people  he  began  to  learn  the  general- 
izations of  his  occupation,  began  to  learn  the  science  of 
cookery.  When  in  some  degree  of  freedom,  the  inven- 
tive impulse  was  allowed  to  play,  when  there  was  room 
for  Art,  Art  came,  and  the  number  and  variety  of  com- 
binations and  effects  increased.  Had  this  process  had 
as  fair  a  chance  as  the  others,  we  should  have  a  differ- 
ent world. 

In  the  main,  however,  it  was  confined  to  the  limits 
which  forbid  all  growth  ;  work  done  by  a  few,  for  a 
few, — usually  done  by  one,  done  without  chance  even 
for  specialization,  to  say  nothing  of  training  or  study  ; 
and  where  the  art  impulse  was  and  is  practically  un- 
known. 

The  main  reason  that  our  household  cuisine  shows 
any  advance  over  that  of  the  primitive  savage  is,  that 
some  men  have  become  cooks,  and  developed  the  func- 
tion and  its  essential  machinery.  This  development 
has  gradually,  imperfectly,  and  with  a  dead  wall  of 
opposing  ignorance  filtered  back  into  the  home.  This 
is  how  we  come  to  have  a  cooking-stove  instead  of  an 
open  fire,  a  choice  of  egg-beaters,  a  double  boiler,  and 
other  trifles  of  like  nature.  But  the  development  has 
been  checked  constantly  by  the  hands  through  which 
every  improvement  must  pass,  and  the  sense  of  degra- 
dation involved  in  doing  work  in  such  companionship 
keeps  our  best  brains  out  of  this  noble,  beautiful,  use- 
ful, and  altogether  essential  human  work.  There  is  no 
other  art  or  science  so  low  as  this,  so  poorly  executed, 
so  little  understood. 

Unfortunately,  being  human  work,  a  social  function, 
it  is  intimatel}^  connected  with  all  other  functions,  and 
the  development  of  the  body  politic  is  sharply  checked 


Food  and  its  Preparation,  183 

by  this  grave  deficiency  in  the  nutritive  process.  Any 
intelligent  work  in  this  direction  is  the  matter  of  a  few 
3' ears  only,  and  the  formal  planning  of  dietaries  for 
infancy,  childhood,  youth,  maturity,  old  age,  and  for 
the  sick,  has  been  considered  the  work  of  the  doctor ; 
the  doctor  in  the  meantime  thinking  no  more  of  the 
matter  than  his  unlucky  patients.  It  is  only  within 
the  last  decade  that  medical  students  have  at  a  few 
points  attended  lectures  on  cookery  for  the  sick,  and  in 
one  or  two  instances  formed  a  practice  class  and  pre- 
pared themselves  the  dishes  which  they  have  since 
taught  to  many  an  ignorant  mother  of  a  family.  Such 
a  phj^sician,  and  the  number  increases  year  by  3^ear,  is 
a  missionary  at  whatever  point  he  may  be  set  down. 
He  has  learned  what  in  good  time  all  will  be  taught 
practically  as  well  as  theoretically, — that  prevention  is 
better  than  cure,  and  that  with  good  food,  pure  air, 
pure  water,  plenty  of  sunshine,  and  out-door  life,  sick- 
ness cannot  show  its  face.  But  good  food  leads  and 
always  must  in  this  daily  renewal  of  the  body,  and 
thus  the  knowledge  of  what  is  "Good  to  eat,"  is  the 
keystone  without  which  the  whole  temple  of  the  body 
falls  sooner  or  later  into  ruin. 

To  see  then  that  the  child  and  the  growing  boy  and 
girl  are  well  fed,  means  a  foundation  for  a  healthy  ma- 
turity, otherwise  impossible.  But  in  the  sixty-five 
million  and  more  inhabitants  of  the  United  States,  how 
many  of  them  have  even  a  hint  of  the  knowledge  that 
would  insure  this?  The  children's  lunch  basket  is 
filled  by  the  fond  mother  with  the  things  the  child  likes 
best :  cake,  pie,  cookies,  pickles, — and  by  the  careless 
mother  with  anything  that  comes  to  hand.  The  chil- 
dren of  this  same  careless  mother  have  probably  slept 
in  an  unventilated  room,  and  are  not  hungry  for  break- 


1 84  Household  Econo^nics. 

fast ;  the  result  being  that  the  lunch  is  eaten  on  the 
road  to  school  or  at  recess,  and  the  child  thus  goes 
hungry  for  a  long  interval  of  time, — a  disaster  to  any 
growing  being.  The  child  in  freedom  runs  all  day 
long,  and  however  aimless  its  activity  may  appear,  it 
is  enormously  in  excess  of  the  activity  of  later  life. 
From  two  to  four  the  child  consumes  more  than  a  quar- 
ter of  the  supply  required  by  the  working  man.  From 
four  to  ten  there  is  a  steady  increase,  while  from  twelve 
to  fifteen  a  child  requires  as  much  food  in  actual  weight 
as  does  a  person  in  the  prime  of  life,  a  trifle  less  than 
the  hardest  working  laborer.  Any  deficiency  in  quality 
or  quantity  is  a  much  more  serious  matter  at  this  age 
than  at  any  other. 

Boston,  which  has  always  been  a  sort  of  experiment 
station  for  the  rest  of  the  United  States,  is  coming  to 
the  conviction  that  the  lunch  of  the  school  children  is 
sufl&ciently  important  to  be  put  under  civic  control. 
The  discussion  is  still  going  on,  but  in  several  schools 
the  experiment  has  been  tried  with  great  success.  Mrs. 
Ellen  H.  Richards,  chemist  in  the  Massachusetts  In- 
stitute of  Technology,  and  one  of  the  highest  authori- 
ties in  the  country,  has  prepared  a  series  of  students' 
dietaries  which  were  in  use  during  the  year  1894-5,  i^ 
the  University  of  Chicago,  a  full  account  of  which 
dietaries  may  be  found  in  the  New  England  Kitchen 
Magazine  for  February,  1895,  a  prelude  on  the  same 
subject  having  appeared  in  the  number  of  the  same 
magazine  for  July,  1894.  Mrs.  Richards  appeals  to 
school  boards  all  over  the  country  for  consideration  of 
the  vital  interests  involved  and  writes  : 

"  In  nearly  every  state  in  the  Union,  there  is  an  agricultviral 
experiment  station,  and  in  many  there  are  agricultural  colleges. 
The  Government,  representing  the  people,  in  this  way  expends 


r^ood  and  its  Preparation.  185 

large  sums  annually  for  the  food  of  any  citizen,  even  though 
his  body  and  brain  may  represent  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  of  invested  capital,  while  the  brute  animal  is  worth 
only  one  or  two  hundred  dollars.  .  .  .  The  prevalent  disre- 
gard of  the  importance  of  human  dietetics  is  especially  notice- 
able in  connection  with  the  life  of  students.  Farmers  know 
that  their  oxen  and  horses  must  be  well  fed  in  order  that  they 
may  do  their  best  work.  On  the  other  hand,  college  trustees 
and  professors  too  frequently  think  that  they  do  their  duty  by 
their  students  if  they  provide  a  sufl&ciently  heavy  load  to  be 
hauled.  If  a  student  breaks  down,  the  remark  is  heard  on  all 
sides,  *  What  a  pity  he  studied  so  hard  !'  And  no  one  asks, 
•Was  he  well  fed?'" 

Under  this  head  of  the  preparation  of  dietaries,  v^^e 
ma}^  also  include  markets  and  marketing,  adulteration, 
and  the  general  supervision  of  food,  since  all  make 
part  of  the  dietary,  as  of  all  civilized  living.  Markets 
must  include  also  the  groceries  where  green  as  well  as 
dry  provisions  are  sold,  and  the  demand  for  scrupulous 
cleanliness  of  place  and  handling  is  to  some  extent 
backed  by  law,  and  should  be  to  a  much  greater  extent. 
Adulteration  with  all  its  dangers  and  the  methods  of 
detecting  adulteration  means  for  us  only  one  more  hint 
of  the  work  to  be  done,  but  Mrs.  Richards  has  an  ad- 
mirable little  pamphlet  on  the  subject  which  should  be 
owned  by  every  housekeeper.  She  has  also  prepared 
a  small  case  of  tests  in  bottles  for  use  in  the  kitchen, 
and  these  contain  all  the  ordinary  simple  tests  for 
adulteration. 

More  and  more,  we  see,  the  trend  is  toward  scientific 
handling  of  all  that  makes  up  civilized  living.  The 
single  housekeeper  is  at  a  steadily  increasing  disadvan- 
tage. We  are  being  pushed, — often  against  our  wishes 
and  protesting  wildly  as  we  go — but  still  pushed,  tow- 
ard that  combination  which  alone  can  lighten  burdens, 


1 86  Household  Economics,  ^. 

lessen  expenses  and  make  possible  for  the  majority  the 
good  things  known  now  only  to  the  minority.  This 
business  of  living  is  a  science,  nor  can  any  one  woman 
master  all  its  countless  details.  The  time  has  come  for 
the  work  of  the  specialist,  and  the  end  of  the  smatter- 
ing of  knowledge  which  thus  far  has  been  the  allow- 
ance of  most  women.  There  is  work  enough  for  all ; 
no  woman  need  lack,  but  the  time  is  ripe  for  it  to  take 
such  coherent  form  that  each  may  know  and  perfect 
her  own,  and  cease  once  for  all  the  aimless,  heart- 
breaking, detailed  distraction  that  for  most  of  us  makes 
the  bulk  of  what  we  call  living. 

BIBWOGRAPHY   AND  RKFERE;NCE;3. 

Chemistry  of  Foods ^  by  Dr.  Beal. 

Chemistry  of  Food,  by  Dr.  Allen,  Armour  Institute. 

Food  Materials  and  Their  Adulteratio7i,  by  E.  H.  Richards, 

The  Rumford  Kitchen  Leaflets. 
Chemistry  of  Cooking  arid  Cleaning,  by  Ellen  H.  Richards. 
Food  Adulteration,  by  Jessie  P.  Battershall. 
Food  and  its  Adulterations,  by  Arthur  Hill  Hassall. 
Meat  Inspection,  by  Thomas  Whalley. 
Infectiousness  of  Milk,  by  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  the 

Promotion  of  Agriculture. 
Potable  Water,  by  Floyd  Davis. 

Physiology  of  Bodily  Exercise,  by  Ferdinand  Lagrange. 
Mrs.   Lincoln's  Boston  Cook  Book  :     What  to  Do  and  What 

Not  to  Do  in  Cooking. 
Just  How,  by  Mrs.  A.  D.  T.  Whitney. 
Mrs.  Rorer's  Philadelphia  Cook  Book. 
Practical  Cookijig  and  Dinner  Giving,  Mrs.  Henderson. 
In  the  Kitchen,  by  Mrs.  E.  S.  Miller. 
Good  Living,  a  Practical  Cook  Book  for  Town  and  Country^ 

by  Sara  Van  Buren  Brugiere. 
French  Dishes  for  American  Tables,  Pierre  Caron. 
Cuisine  Classique,  by  Urbain  Dubois. 


Food  and  its  Preparation,  187 

Careme,  GonffS  and  Soyer. 

Diet  for  the  Sick,  by  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Henderson. 

Diet  for  the  Sick,  by  Mary  Boland. 

Catherine  Owen's  Books :  Choice  Cookery,  Ten  Dollars  Enough, 

etc. 
Canoe  ajid  Camp  Cookery  by  "Seneca,"  Forest  and  Stream 

Pub.  Co.,  New  York. 
Miss  Parloa's  Camp  Cookery. 
Delicate  Feasting,  by  Theodore  Child. 
Practical  Sanitary  and  Eco7iomical  Cooking,  by  Mrs.  Mary 

Hinman  Abel.     The  Lomb  Prize  Essay. 
The  Easiest  Way,  by  Helen  Campbell,  chap.  xii. 
"Student  Dietaries,"  by  Mrs.  Ellen  H.  Richards,  New  England 

Kitchen  Magazifie,  1895. 
Hozv  to  Feed  the  Baby,  by  Dr.  Charles  Page. 
Cold  Dishes  for  Hot  Weather,  by  MM.  Ysaguirre  and  La  Marca. 
The  Century  Cook  Book,  by  Mary  Ronald,  The  Century  Co., 

New  York. 
A  Study  of  Dietaries,  by  Amelia  Shapleigh,  from  Report  of 

College  Sentiments  Ass'n,  1892-93. 
"Luncheons  for  School  Children,"  by  Ellen  H.Richards,  Am, 

Kitchen  Magazine,  May,  1875. 
"A  Student's  Lunch  Room,"   by  Ellen   H.   Richards,  Am. 

Kitchen  Magazine,  Feb.,  1895. 


CHAPTER  X. 

CLEANING   AND  ITS  PROCESSES. 

Cleaning  the  Essential  and  Permanent  Household  Industry — 
The  Excretory  System  of  the  Household  Organism— Fric- 
tion, Exposure,  and  Decay — Essential  and  Necessary  Waste 
—The  Grave  and  the  Garret— Fuel  and  Flies— The  Dirt  we 
Make  —  Cleaning,  Mechanical  and  Chemical  —  Primitive 
Household  without  Excretory  System — Semi- Annual  At- 
tacks on  Dirt — Elements  of  Cleaning  Processes,  Sweeping, 
Dusting  and  Washing — Development  and  Excesses — The 
New  England  Housewife  and  her  Dutch  Prototype — Fluff 
— Dust  and  its  Dangers — Bacteria  and  Microbes — Antiseptic 
Cleaning — Light  and  Cleanliness,  Physical,  Mental,  and 
Moral — What  it  is  to  be  Clean,  and  the  Results. 

CIvEANIylNESS  is  next  to  godliness  has,  in  these 
latter  days,  taken  on  almost  the  significance  of 
cleanliness  is  godliness.  Ten  great  industries, 
the  parents  of  all  arts  we  know  to-day,  have  passed,  save 
two,  into  the  hands  of  men,  and  one  is  passing.  Cook- 
ing and  all  matters  connected  with  food  may  in  time 
have  no  place  in  the  home  itself,  nor  is  it  necessary  in 
the  last  analysis  that  they  should.  But  cleaning  is  a 
process  which,  from  the  personal  side  with  the  always 
more  and  more  beautifully  and  perfectl}^  appointed 
bath-room  to  its  perfected  and  perfecting  forms  in  anti- 
septic handling  of  all  sources  of  infection,  can  never 
pass.     Sanitation  is  its  summary  and  sanitation  should 

i88 


Cleaning  and  its  Processes.  189 

and  must  become  a  part  of  every  intelligent  woman's 
working  outfit. 

We  have  already  drawn  the  analogy  between  this 
household  industry  of  cleaning  and  the  physical  func- 
tion of  excretion,  which  may  seem  to  some  far-fetched, 
to  others  perhaps,  unpleasant.  Yet  no  other  com- 
parison so  well  fits  the  facts.  The  functions  are  not 
only  analogous  but  identical.  The  Household  organ- 
ism is  a  living  structure  in  the  same  sense  that  an 
oyster  shell  is.  It  is  part  of  man,  an  essential  part. 
He  could  not  live,  as  he  is  now,  without  the  household 
as  it  is  now.  His  household  structure  changes  with 
him,  grows  with  his  growth  and  strengthens  with  his 
strength.  It  deteriorates  also  as  he  deteriorates.  It  is 
part  of  him. 

The  structure  of  the  house  like  all  organic  structures 
dies  ;  that  is,  it  wears  out.  The  state  of  being  lived 
in  it  is  an  exhausting  one.  Inorganic  material  re- 
mains unchanged.  I^et  the  human  being  take  his  por- 
tion of  these  inorganic  materials,  put  them  together  in 
organic  forms,  live  in  them  and  presently  they  die. 
In  other  words,  use  them  and  they  get  used  up.  That 
is,  after  all,  all  there  is  in  any  form  of  dying.  If  ill 
constructed  or  allowed  to  get  seriously  out  of  order,  the 
structure  dies  more  quickly.  That  is  all,  yet,  do  the 
best  we  may,  all  living  things  it  would  seem  must  die. 

Build  the  house  perfectly.  Guard  and  tend  it  with 
utmost  skill,  it  has  its  period,  and  in  the  meantime  its 
tissues  waste  from  year  to  year,  from  day  to  day. 
That  waste  of  tissue  is  identical  with  the  waste  of  tissue 
in  the  house  of  flesh  in  which  we  live.  If  we  diligently 
remove  the  waste  matter  and  constantly  supply  fresh 
material  as  far  as  possible,  we  are  performing  the  ex- 
cretory function. 


190  Household  Economics. 

From  all  our  innumerable  pores  hourly,  yes,  momen- 
tarily, exude  waste  products  of  the  process  of  living. 
Within,  the  blood  runs  darkly  laden  with  the  waste 
matter  of  fibre  and  tissue,  and  besides  that  is  the  large 
disposal  of  the  unusable  material  in  our  crude  food  sup- 
ply. Proper  removal  of  all  these  keeps  the  body  clean  ; 
clean  is  in  such  case  the  synonym  for  healthy,  and 
proper  removal  of  analogous  waste  of  the  house  keeps 
it  clean  and  healthy  too. 

There  is  a  vast  difference  in  the  relative  waste  of  dif- 
ferent tissues.  A  house  of  wood  wastes  faster  than  a 
house  of  stone ;  dies  faster ;  is  harder  to  keep  clean. 
If  that  house  of  wood  lined  with  cloth  and  paper 
these  die  faster  than  the  wood  ;  are  harder  to  keep  clean. 
If  the  house  of  wood  be  lined  with  cloth  and  paper, 
be  filled  with  a  multitude  of  intricate  articles  offering 
multiple  surfaces  to  friction  and  decay — composed  also 
of  substances  of  varying  destructibility — we  arrange 
for  ourselves  a  home  dying  most  swiftly  and  always 
hardest  to  clean,  and  the  vital  energy  of  its  inhabitant 
must  be  ceaselessly  spent  in  the  removal  of  enormous 
waste. 

Precisely  as  our  own  vital  energies  are  overtaxed 
when  the  system  is  clogged  with  effete  matter,  and  the 
whole  organism  struggles  to  throw  it  off  through  pores 
and  glands,  this  extra  exertion  greatly  interfering  with 
the  free  use  of  energy  in  other  directions,  so  does  the 
overfilled  home,  clogged  with  furniture,  and  choked 
with  surplus  cloth  and  paper,  ashes,  garbage,  waste  of 
all  kinds,  tax  the  energies  of  the  occupant  to  throw 
off  the  injurious  mass. 

No  less  is  it  true  and  on  the  same  principle  that,  as 
the  presence  of  effete  matter  in  the  body  invites  disease, 
so  does  the  presence  of  surplus  effete  matter  in  the 


Cleaning  and  its  Processes,  1 9 1 

house  invite  disease,  the  invitation  being  generally 
accepted. 

The  Household  Economist,  trained  and  educated, 
will  come  to  some  sound  conclusions  on  this  subject. 
When  we  genuinel}^  come  to  regard  our  homes  to  be 
extensions  of  ourselves,  as  is  the  workman's  tool,  or 
the  sensitive  bow  of  the  violinist  ;  when  their  internal 
processes  are  as  our  internal  processes,  we  shall  have  a 
care  how  we  build  and  fill  them,  and  what  we  do 
therein. 

lyike  the  physical  excretory  processes,  those  of  the 
house  are  twofold.  One  is  the  removal  of  waste  of 
tissue  ;  the  other  the  removal  of  waste  material  from 
the  new  matter  supplied.  To  so  select  the  materials 
of  our  houses  as  to  have  them  afford  the  least  waste  of 
tissues,  and  to  so  select  their  contents  and  especiall}^ 
their  more  transient  supplies  as  to  have  them  afford  the 
least  waste,  is  one  of  the  chief  efforts  of  the  scientific 
Household  Economist. 

Follow  the  progress  from  w^ood  to  coal  ;  from  coal  to 
oil  or  gas  ;  from  gas  to  electricity,  and  note  the  decrease 
in  waste  matter  and  its  accompanying  decrease  of 
labor. 

Compare  a  room  filled,  as  are  most  of  ours,  with  in- 
numerable movables  and  dustables,  masses  of  stufi&ng 
and  draperies,  and  mere  piling  up,  with  a  room  pure 
and  beautiful  as  a  temple,  rich  and  soft  in  color,  full 
of  curving  lovely  lines,  but  mainly  hard  and  smooth  in 
surfaces,  and  possessing  few  movables,  and  con.sider 
attentively  the  accompanying  decrease  in  labor. 

Think  for  a  moment  what  it  is  to  the  body  to  be 
compelled  to  spend  most  of  its  internal  energies  in  sim- 
ply clearing  out  and  cleansing  itself;  how  digestion, 
respiration,  and  circulation, — every  other  vital  process 


1 9  2  Household  Econom  ics. 

suffers  and  necessary  external  exertion  becomes  well- 
nigh  impossible.  Then  think  what  it  is  to  the  home 
dweller  to  have  to  spend  all  her  vital  energy  in  clean- 
ing that  home,  and  its  turbid  contents  ;  how  the  other 
domestic  industries  suffer  in  consequence,  and  how  any 
outside  interest  or  exertion  becomes  almost  impossible. 

Is  it  not  very  plain  at  this  very  point,  how  Household 
Economics  touches  directly  on  Social  Economics  and 
is  involved  in  it  and  with  it  ?  Is  it  not  plain  how  vitally 
important  is  this  excretory  system  of  the  household,  to 
the  people  within  it,  and  the  people  without  it ;  to  the 
world  of  which  it  is  a  part  ? 

We  cannot  detach  one  part  of  the  human  organism 
from  another,  nor  dissociate  its  essential  processes. 
It  is  plainly  then  of  deepest  importance  to  the  house- 
keeper, to  the  family,  and  to  society,  that  our  household 
econom}^  be  in  the  same  condition  of  clear,  clean,  health- 
ful activity,  as  is  necessary  in  the  individual  body,  and 
in  the  State.  Since  we  can  all  see  that  friction  pro- 
motes waste  in  the  tissues  of  a  house,  we  should  have 
them  so  composed  and  arranged  as  to  avoid  friction  as 
far  as  is  consistent  with  right  use.  Since  exposure  is 
another  element  of  destruction,  we  should  preserve 
from  exposure.  Since  decay  takes  place  even  in  smooth 
and  guarded  substances,  we  should  know  how  to  choose 
those  which  decay  most  slowly. 

The  law  sums  itself  up  in  reducing  as  far  as  possible 
the  conditions  of  essential  waste.  Some  there  must  be, 
but  as  the  difference  between  cleaning  a  porcelain-lined 
sink  and  a  v/ooden  one,  so  will  be  the  difference  be- 
tween cleaning  the  scientifically  built,  lined,  and  fur- 
nished house,  and  the  rag-bags,  waste-baskets,  and 
dust  traps  we  are  content  to  live  in  now.  Not  content 
with  the  waste  of  our  useful  articles  w^e  even  preserve 


Cleaning  a7id  its  Processes.  193 

them  when  past  use.  We  maintain  graveyards  in  the 
garret  and  mausoleums  in  the  cellar,  wherein  more 
things  may  gradually  return  to  dust,  for  our  further 
labor  and  dirtiness. 

Our  grandmothers  did  it  ?  Yes,  but  our  grand- 
mothers had  not  modern  conveniences  to  fall  back 
upon,  nor  did  they  have  moth-breeding  furnaces,  and 
other  modern  engines  of  destruction. 

As  to  the  materials  we  now  bring  in  for  the  purpose, 
it'would  seem,  of ' '  furnishing  employment, ' '  the  steady 
stream  of  cheap  reading  matter,  writing  materials, 
sewing  materials,  playing  materials,  dressing  materials, 
and,  mightiest  of  all,  eating  materials,  with  all  the 
ceaseless  and  debasing  labor  in  keeping  them  clean  and 
clearing  them  away,  is  a  condition  which  goes  far  in 
accounting  for  our  low  development  in  more  ways  than 
one. 

Excessive  excretion  is  not  only  unprofitable  to  the 
system ;  it  is  a  condition  of  disease.  Our  household 
industries  are  as  yet,  at  best,  in  a  low  form  of  develop- 
ment, and  this  naturally  compels  the  form  so  often 
used  in  speaking  of  them,  "degrading."  Excess  in  a 
special  function  is  worse  than  this.  It  is  not  a  return 
to  a  lower  but  still  healthy  form  ;  it  is  advanced  and 
yet  unhealthy  ;  not  a  physiological  but  a  pathological 
process. 

The  fact  that  we  make  so  much  dirt  in  a  household  and 
must  devote  commensurate  energy  to  clearing  it  up  after 
ourselves,  is  a  morbid  condition  in  Household  Eco- 
nomics, and  so  to  be  studied,  not  for  its  morbidity  but 
because  to  know  a  thing  morbid  is  the  beginning  of 
cure.  To  put  the  case  in  a  more  specific  light,  to  de- 
vote the  elaborate  and  highly  specialized  energies  of  a 
modern  human  being  to  the  removal  of  effete  matter 


1 94  Household  Economics. 

from  its  environing  structure,  is  a  desecration  of  God's 
highest  creation.  That  is  why  Martha  was  lower  than 
Mary. 

It  is  not  a  light  matter,  the  way  in  which  we  spend 
our  time,  our  strength,  our  intelligence.  The  higher 
duties  of  womanhood,  the  higher  evolution  of  humanity 
through  her,  of  society  through  the  household,  demand 
a  more  healthful  condition  of  Household  Economics 
than  this  present  shows.  Our  households  are  sur- 
charged with  waste  matter,  and  our  lives  spent  in  its 
arrangement  and  removal. 

Soul,  mind,  and  body  are  limited  by  the  dustpan.  We 
need  not  therefore  jump  to  the  hasty  conclusion  that 
all  cleansing  processes  are  debasing.  On  the  contrary 
there  is  no  function  more  essential  to  the  progress  of 
humanity.  To  rightly  clean  right  objects  is  a  noble 
work  ;  as  noble  as  the  work  of  heart  and  lung  and 
kidney  and  sebaceous  gland.  It  is  necessary  to  health, 
and  therefore  right  to  do.  But  it  should  be  done  in 
the  ordered,  specialized,  perfected  industry  proper  to 
humanity  and  never  allowed  to  consume  more  than  its 
proportion  of  household  or  social  vitality. 

*'  I  don't  see  why  we  are  so  much  dirtier  than  we 
used  to  be,"  said  a  vigorous  old  lady  the  other  day  as 
she  laid  down  a  copy  of  the  Sanitarian.  "  '  Dangers 
of  River  Water '  !  We  drank  what  we  pleased  when 
I  was  young.  This  talk  about  bacteria  seems  to  me 
like  all  the  other  fads.  It  was  Life  Elixir  a  year  or 
two  ago.  Now  its  bacteria.  For  my  part  I  have  some 
faith  in  the  gastric  juice.  It  appears  to  be  strong 
enough  to  digest  your  ten  course  lunches,  and  I  rather 
fancy  it  will  manage  bacteria." 

This  faith  appears  to  be  with  many,  and  in  a  sense 
the  old  lady  had  truth  on  her  side.     On  the  other  hand 


Cleaning  and  its  Processes,  195 

we  deal  with  a  series  of  constantly  complicating  cir- 
cumstances. Philadelphia  for  instance,  once  a  quiet 
little  city,  green  fields  all  about,  manufactories  un- 
known, and  stock  yards  unheard  of, — all  this  true  a 
hundred  years  ago, — drinks  daily  an  extract  of  its 
grandfathers'  bones,  since  three  cemeteries  drain  into 
the  Schuylkill.  And  on  the  borders  of  this  once  limpid 
river  stand  factories  of  all  orders  whose  refuse,  often  of 
the  most  obnoxious  and  even  malignant  character,  is 
dumped  or  floated  into  the  stream,  which  receives  also 
every  form  of  ordure  and  filth.  We  have  touched  upon 
this  point  already  in  our  talk  on  "  The  Organism  of  the 
House,"  but  it  is  an  essential  portion  of  anything  there 
is  to  be  said  on  cleaning. 

The  gastric  juice  helps  us  through  many  crises,  but 
it  is  not  warranted  to  deal  with  modern  dirt.  We  are 
perpetually  and  carefully  to  remember  that  we  have  not 
only  all  our  own  dirt  to  take  care  of  but  all  the  dirt  of 
our  ancestors.  Their  lives  were  given  to  saturating 
the  soil  with  all  forms  of  sewage,  waste  water  being 
supposed  to  be  no  harm  to  anybody.  Even  our  cities 
had  for  long  absolutely  no  sewage  system,  and  thus,  in 
New  York  for  instance,  with  its  two  hundred  years  and 
more  of  human  ignorance  at  work,  the  ground  cannot 
be  disturbed  without  giving  off  the  stored  gases  of  all 
this  period,  the  result  being  malaria  for  every  suscep- 
tible constitution. 

This  for  out  doors,  and  the  story  is  true  not  only  for 
New  York  but  for  all  points,  whether  in  city,  town,  or 
village,  where  human  beings  mass  together.  How  is 
it  within  doors  ? 

Household  administration  means  a  state  of  things 
of  the  same  order.  Take  the  houses  we  all  know, 
perhaps  even  live  in,  where  carpets  are  taken  up  by 


196  Household  Economics » 

those  who  know  sanitary  laws  certainly  once  a  year ; 
by  those  who  do  not,  once  in  two  or  three,  perhaps  only 
in  five  or  ten  or  twenty  years,  the  last  case  being  no 
uncommon  one  even  among  refined  and  cultivated  peo- 
ple. They  seemed  clean  for  they  were  often  swept,  yet 
think  of  the  accumulation  below.  Aged  bacteria  bided 
their  time,  burrowing  happily  in  the  bed  provided  for 
them,  every  heavy  step  releasing  some  of  the  occupants, 
every  sweeping  more,  till  in  good  time  came  the  unac- 
countable disease,  pneumonia  it  may  be  or  more  prob- 
bably  consumption,  and  the  obituary  notice  recorded 
"  Another  visitation  of  Divine  Providence." 

Mrs.  Ellen  H.  Richards  tells  the  stor>^  of  an  experi- 
ment where  as  much  dust  as  could  be  taken  on  the 
point  of  a  pin,  was  removed  from  the  top  of  a  dining- 
room  door,  the  tops  of  doors  being  one  of  the  places 
most  often  neglected  in  dusting.  One  of  the  pastimes 
of  the  bacteriologist  is  to  "  plant ' '  a  little  dust  and 
watch  through  the  microscope  the  growth  of  colonies, 
each  colony  representing  one  original  germ  impossible 
to  be  seen  save  with  the  most  powerful  microscope,  but 
whose  descendants  are  visible  to  all  who  look  out.  Out 
of  this  pin-point  of  dust  grew  three  thousand  living 
organisms,  not  all  malignant,  but  all  enemies  of  health. 
The  dry  duster  had  never  reached  them.  The  feather 
duster  had  no  power  save  for  distribution.  A  damp 
one  alone  could  render  them  harmless,  but  not  one 
housekeeper  in  a  thousand  knows  the  virtues  of  a  duster 
just  damp  enough  or  teaches  its  use  to  the  housemaid. 

A  beam  of  sunlight  in  a  darkened  room  shows  us 
myriad  motes  in  the  sunbeam.  But  the  sun  has  no 
such  dwellers  in  any  beam  that  ever  shone.  On  the 
contrary  these  are  the  otherwise  invisible  inhabitants 
of  the  room.     Were  this  room  filled  with  air  previously 


Cleaning  and  its  Processes,  197 

filtered  by  passing  through  cotton  wool,  the  beam 
would  be  invisible  till  it  struck  the  opposite  wall.  It 
is  dust  we  deal  with,  and  the  heavier  the  nature  of  the 
particles  the  more  quickly  will  they  settle,  that  on  the 
tops  of  pianos  and  other  smooth  surfaces  being  different 
in  quality  from  that  in  the  track  of  the  sunbeam. 

The  chemist's  analysis  shows  us  in  the  heavier 
portions  of  dust  ground  up  siliceous  matter  pulverized 
by  traffic,  etc.,  in  the  road,  sulphate  of  soda  and  other 
salts,  and  general  local  impurities.  If  a  sample  of  dust 
is  collected  and  carefully  ignited,  the  organic  matter 
burns  away,  any  salts  of  ammonia  volatilize,  and  only 
the  mineral  portion  remains  unacted  upon.  By  many 
such  experiments  it  has  been  proved  that  more  than 
half  the  suspended  matter  in  the  air  is  of  organic  ori- 
gin, most  of  it  composed  of  germs  capable  of  setting  up 
fermentation,  disease,  and  decay. 

Surface  soil,  such  as  mud  brought  in  by  boots  or 
muddy  skirts,  can  be  removed  mechanically  with  ease. 
But  old  dust  in  a  carpet,  dislodged  by  a  broom,  simply 
settles  back  at  any  convenient  point.  Damp  tea-leaves 
assist  in  holding  it.  So  do  damp  sand  or  bits  of  news- 
paper or  salt,  but  the  damp  helper  must  be  chosen  with 
reference  to  the  fact  that  it  must  not  stain  the  carpet  or 
rug.  Nor  must  it  be  too  wet  or  so  fine  that  it  sinks 
into  the  substance  to  be  cleaned. 

It  is  necessary,  then,  to  study  substances  and  what 
mode  of  cleaning  belongs  to  each,  but  first  is  another 
study  :  that  of  the  forms  which  seek  their  destruction. 
Bacteria,  yeasts,  and  moulds,  are  the  three  to  be  most 
dreaded,  and  these  are  defined  at  length  in  Dr.  Prud- 
den's  little  manual,  Dust  and  its  Dangers,  which  it  is 
necessary  to  know  well,  adding  to  it  also  his  Story  of 
the  Bacteria. 


1 98  Household  Economics, 

Modern  life  and  dust  are  synonyms.  At  every  turn 
we  add  to  our  already  too  complicated  existences  more 
forms  of  dust-holding  and  dust-breeding  property,  but 
no  manual  of  how  to  neutralize  their  effects  is  sold  with 
them.  What  we  have  to  learn,  then,  must  come  as  it 
can,  and  every  woman  must  study,  since  possessions 
vary  according  to  taste,  the  amount  of  money  to  be 
spent,  and  a  thousand  personal  reasons. 

A  slight  course  of  bacteriology  is  necessary  for  any 
real  worker  in  these  lines.  In  the  laboratory  of  Chicago 
University,  for  instance,  there  is  a  term's  work  in  the 
testing,  first  of  soils  in  relation  to  free  drainage,  a 
knowledge  indispensable  to  the  builder  of  a  house  ; 
then  of  water  and  its  sterilization,  as  well  as  that  of 
milk,  with  lessons  in  food  adulterations  and  their  tests. 
To  this  end  Mrs.  Ellen  H.  Richards,  of  the  Boston  In- 
stitute of  Technology,  has  prepared  a  *'  Housekeeper's 
Cabinet,"  containing  a  set  of  bottles  with  the  tests  for 
all  ordinary  adulterations,  the  steady  increase  in  which 
makes  this  knowledge  more  important  than  ever 
before. 

As  to  bacteria,  there  are  flourishing  colonies  of  them, 
each  student  owning  one  or  more  obtained  by  the  most 
accurate  method  which  is  as  follows  : 

A  given  volume  of  air  is  forced  through  a  tube  which 
has  been  plugged  with  cotton  batting,  heated  before- 
hand ver}^  hot  in  order  to  kill  any  germs  that  m.ay  have 
been  upon  it.  This  cotton,  if  properly  packed  in  the 
tube,  will  catch  and  hold  in  its  meshes  every  dust  par- 
ticle, however  vSmall,  and  with  these  all  the  bacteria 
which  were  in  the  air  forced  through  the  tube. 

The  cotton  plug  is  now  pulled  out  with  a  pair  of 
perfectly  clean  forceps,  and  is  rinsed  off  into  a  small 
dish  in  which  the  bacterial  food  is  put ;  that  is,  some 


Cleaning  and  its  Processes,  1 99 

preparation  with  a  small  portion  of  gelatine  in  it.  The 
dish  is  then  covered  and  set  in  a  warm  place  to  stand 
till  each  living  germ  grows  and  multiplies  till  it  forms 
a  visible  colony.  Counting  the  colonies  of  course  rep- 
resents the  number  of  living  germs  which  were  present 
in  the  whole  volume  of  air  forced  through  the  plug. 
Fine  sand  is  often  substituted  for  cotton,  and  at  times 
granulated  sugar.  Simplest  of  all  is  the  putting  in 
perfectly  clean,  shallow  glass  dishes,  a  thin  layer  of 
the  gelatinous  culture  medium,  and  allowing  it  to 
solidify  by  cooling.  A  close  fitting  cover  is  on  each 
during  the  process  of  hardening. 

One  of  such  dishes  with  the  cover  removed  is  set 
in  a  still  place  and  the  dust  allowed  to  settle  upon  it. 
Five  minutes  is  sufficient.  The  inorganic  parts  of  the 
dust  particle  are  not  to  be  considered.  But  the  living 
ones  find  themselves  on  a  newly  discovered  continent, 
and  begin  on  the  instant  to  multiply  and  inherit  the 
land. 

A  small  child  of  five  has  followed  this  method,  the 
*' plate-method,"  with  delight,  studying  differences 
between  mould  and  yeast  spores,  and  bacteria,  and  en- 
joying the  little  case  of  innocent  looking  glass  boxes 
w^ith  the  nutrient  gelatine  contents,  as  the  amateur 
photographer  enjoys  his  camera.  In  like  manner,  the 
child  can  share  what  to  it  is  the  game  of  testing  for 
adulterations,  though  one  may  still  hope  for  the  day 
when  such  knowledge  may  be  unnecessary,  and  pure 
food,  pure  air,  and  pure  water  be  the  portion  of  all 
humankind. 

In  our  primitive  stages — that  is,  our  early  Colonial 
life — the  house  had  no  excretory  system,  and  this  re- 
mains true  of  myriads  of  villages  still.  The  ground 
was  considered  a  sufficient  absorber  of  all  liquid  sew- 


2  oo  Household  Econom  us. 

age,  and  the  drain,  if  there  was  one,  was  close  to  well 
or  cistern.  As  to  dirt,  the  New  England  housewife, 
then  and  now,  had  and  has  a  semi-annual  cleaning, 
every  article  in  the  house  that  could  be  moved  having 
its  own  washing  and  wiping.  But  even  with  this  the 
cellar  went  often  undisturbed,  and  piles  of  decaying 
vegetables  and  every  form  of  mould,  made  breeding 
ground  for  bacteria. 

There  are  towns  in  Holland  where  even  the  stables 
are  scrubbed  dail}^,  and  a  wandering  fl}^  or  a  particle 
of  dust  is  attacked  with  passionate  zeal.  Yet  in  doors 
every  principle  of  personal  hygiene  is  violated  at  every 
turn.  It  is  the  outside  of  the  platter  that  shines  with 
cleanliness.  For  the  inside  there  had  better  be  no 
question,  since  methods  are  all  microbe-producing. 

As  to  fluff,  insidious,  all-pervading,  unconquerable 
fluff,  every  housekeeper  has  questioned  whence  it 
comes.  Fluff  might  be  called  the  ghost  of  murdered 
dirt.  One  may  sweep  and  dust  and  polish,  a  spare 
bedroom  for  instance,  and  before  a  week  is  gone  find 
fluff  rampant  under  everything.  It  dematerializes  too, 
a  foot  square  rolling  into  a  wad  one  may  hold  between 
thumb  and  finger. 

Dealing  with  this  enemy  is  simple.  The  abolition 
of  most  old-fashioned  sw^eeping  with  a  broom  is  one  of 
the  most  effectual  means.  A  small  brush  for  corners, 
and  a  good  carpet  sweeper,  does  the  work  for  the  rest 
of  the  room  if  carpeted  or  with  heavy  rug.  For  mat- 
tings and  oiled  or  waxed  floors  a  long-handled  soft 
brush,  and  for  all  the  constant  use  of  dampened  dusters 
and  floor  wiping-cloths.  Fluff  is  the  lint  from  carpets 
and  beds,  meeting  with  dust  enough  as  it  forms  to 
give  it  consistence.  Under  the  damp  cloth  it  shrinks 
and  disappears. 


Cleaning  and  its  Processes,  201 

For  carpets  and  rugs  a  woollen  cloth  wrung  out  of 
warm  water  in  which  a  little  ammonia  has  been  put,  a 
tablespoonfui  to  a  pailful,  not  only  brightens  the  carpet 
but  removes  dust  so  perfectly  that  there  are  no  mate- 
rials left  with  which  to  make  fluff.  It  must  never  be  a 
wet  cloth,  but  wrung  till  nearly  dry. 

To  pick  up  loose  threads  or  bits,  brush  up  footmarks 
or  aggressive  dirt  and  then  wipe,  takes  less  than  half  the 
time  of  the  ordinary  sweeping.  There  is  far  less  dust 
on  the  furniture,  and  keeping  clean  is  made  easier  in 
every  way.  If  fluff  still  appears  remember  that  it  is  the 
cleanest  form  of  inevitable  dirt,  and  ignore  it  till  the 
time  is  ripe  for  its  abolition. 

This  is  the  lightest  form  of  household  waste  or  re- 
fusel,  but  in  closest  connection  stands  the  mass  of  ashes, 
sweepings,  waste  paper,  and  general  garbage.  As  to 
disposition  of  all  this,  each  city  appears  to  be  experi- 
menting on  its  own  account,  St.  Paul,  Minnesota, 
having  developed  what  appears  to  be  the  best  system 
in  the  United  States.  All  household  refuse  is  emptied 
into  hard- wood  casks,  forty-five  gallons  each,  hermet- 
ically sealed  by  means  of  an  iron  rod  to  bottom  of  cask, 
carried  and  shipped  some  fifteen  miles  out,  to  a  plant 
which  converts  it  into  fertilizing  materials  in  an  entirely 
unobjectionable  manner.  The  casks  are  cleaned  there 
and  returned  ready  for  use  again.  In  the  populous 
part  of  the  city,  refuse  is  collected  between  the  hours 
of  midnight  and  9  a.m.,  a  new  departure  for  this 
country  and  insuring  the  least  annoyance  during  the 
process. 

This  is  the  most  difficult  phase  of  cleanliness  for  the 
household,  since  as  a  rule  we  are  at  the  mercy  of  the 
average  garbage  collector.  But  all  of  us  have  certain 
legal  rights,  and  we  are  to  understand  what  we  must 


202  Household  Economics, 

demand  from  the  city  government  at  any  point  ;  in  brief 
as  follows  : 

Garbage  must  be  collected  six  times  a  week. 
Kitchen  garbage,  sweepings,  cut  grass,  waste  paper, 
old  boots  and  shoes,  and  all  other  combustible  waste  is 
to  be  called  for  and  removed  from  all  buildings.  The 
contractor  should  issue  cards  giving  his  name  and 
address  and  stating  the  da3^s  for  collecting  garbage  in 
particular  streets  and  districts,  and  designating  between 
what  hours  collectors  will  call.  A  copy  of  such  card 
should  be  left  at  each  and  every  building  once  a  month. 
The  contractor  should  be  fined  for  any  neglect  in  serving 
these  cards  of  notice. 

Philadelphia  has  given  her  definition  of  a  clean  cellar 
and  now  requires  it  as  follows  : 

ivSt,  a  cemented  floor  and  sides  ;  2d,  free  from  dirt, 
ashes,  animal  or  vegetable  matter,  and  perfectly  dry  ; 
no  cesspools  or  privy  vaults,  and  whitewashed  thor- 
oughly once  a  year.  For  the  year  1894,  ^75  filthy  cel- 
lars were  notified  and  compelled  to  clean.  This  should 
be  a  universal  law. 

All  this  is  merely  illustrative.  We  have  no  space  for 
directions  in  the  many  lineg  that  cleaning  must  take, 
but  from  attic  to  cellar  it  is  possible  to  reduce  all  its 
formula  and  know  the  needs  of  each.  Antiseptic 
cleaning,  in  use  in  all  hospitals,  dispensaries,  etc.,  is 
learned  by  the  trained  nurse,  but  belongs  no  less  to  the 
necessary  knowledge  of  the  house  mistress.  There  are 
manuals  containing  full  directions,  but  here  a  physician 
must  be  consulted  till  the  time  comes  when  the  names, 
properties,  and  uses  of  all  simple  disinfectants  are  taught 
as  naturally  as  the  multiplication  table.  Either  this 
must  be,  or  such  combined  and  hearty  progress  in  true 
living,  that  disinfectants  become  unnecessarj^  a  millen- 


Cleanz7?g  and  its  Pj'ocesses.  203 

nial  state  of  things,  but  one  we  can  bring  about  if  we 
will. 

This  business  of  cleaning  like  every  thing  else  is  first 
of  all  personal,  and  there  is  not  a  bit  of  what  we  call 
civilization  that  does  not  compel  more  and  more  atten- 
tion to  it.  Take  the  elevated  railroad,  belching  forever 
as  it  goes  its  cloud  of  cinders,  dust,  and  grime  ;  a  cloud 
so  angry  and  potent  that  dissectors  show  us  in  plates 
of  the  lungs  the  portions  which  have  taken  on  traceries 
of  black  pigment  as  part  of  their  very  substance.  Soft 
coal  in  many  parts  of  the  country  compels  the  same 
results,  not  only  within  but  without,  and  I  have  even 
gone  so  far  as  to  insist  that  soft  coal  and  the  moral 
sense  cannot  exist  side  by  side. 

Let  us  take  a  very  positive  demonstration  of  the  truth 
of  this  rather  extreme  statement.  In  a  university  town 
of  a  Western  state  where  these  lectures  were  at  one  time 
given,  I  stood  one  November  day  under  a  sky  blue  and 
clear  as  midsummer,  watching  thick  black  columns  pour- 
ing upward  not  only  from  the  great  chimneys  of  many 
manufactories,  but  from  the  tall  stack  at  the  back  of 
the  university  itself.  They  rose  to  fall  again  in  a  rain 
of  fine  pellets,  each  with  its  odor  of  creosote  and  atom 
of  oil  warranted  to  make  a  smear  out  of  even  the  tiniest. 
From  homes  in  lesser  degree  came  minor  columns, 
always  of  the  same  nature  and  effect,  till  even  the 
blades  of  grass  seemed  coated  each  with  its  film  of 
soot. 

If  this  film  had  remained  out  of  doors,  the  face  of 
nature,  helped  by  dew  and  rain,  might  have  borne  it. 
But  the  face  of  man  was  another  matter.  For  the  few 
who  had  water  enough  to  wash  freely,  there  was  rela- 
tive cleanliness.  For  the  mass  to  whom  water  was  a 
luxury,  since   one  man  owned  gas  works   and   trolley 


204  Household  Economics, 

line  and  water-works  as  well,  the  water  sold  as  it  were 

in  driblets — the  battle  was  practically  unknown. 

This  was  one  phase  accented  by  the  columns  as  they 
rose  and  fell.  For  another  came  the  film  of  oily  black, 
coating  everything  inside  and  out.  In  the  college 
library  the  thirty  thousand  volumes  had  the  gray  and 
venerable  expression  of  a  century,  and  often  in  the 
choicest,  one  found  the  faint  black  imprint  of  a  thumb 
and  finger  which  the  reader  had  been  powerless  to  keep 
clean.  Grimy  women  with  mops  and  cloths  wiped 
away  the  deposit  from  window  and  wall  and  floor, — 
a  daily  task. 

"  I  have  lived  in  this  town  for  three  years,"  said  an 
irascible  and  discouraged  professor,  * '  and  I  contend 
that  the  soot  has  gone  to  the  brain  of  them  all.  I 
myself,  even,  in  whom  a  passion  of  cleanliness  is  the 
birthright,  gaze  unwinkingly  on  a  smut  on  the  counte- 
nance of  my  fairest  student,  and  decline  to  look  at  my 
own  collar  and  cuffs.  Chicago  is  insufferable,  but 
this  somehow  seems  even  worse.  There  is  creosote  in 
every  brain  cell.  Of  that  I  am  certain,  and  naturally, 
it  displaces  gray  matter.  Not  a  human  being  in  this 
town,  therefore,  is  in  a  quite  normal  condition,  the  de- 
posit having  been  too  much  for  all  of  us.  They  seem 
to  think  it  a  great  joke  if  they  think  at  all.  To  me  it 
accounts  for  all  that  holds  the  town  back,  and  I  con- 
tend that  a  place  which  is  calmly  and  unquestioningly 
given  to  smut  and  smear,  will  need  an  earthquake  to 
rouse  it  from  its  apathy.  Soft  coal  is  as  great  a  curse 
to  the  user  as  a  diet  of  potatoes  or  rice  has  proved  it- 
self to  a  nation,  but  that  is  another  story." 

Here  then,  again,  comes  a  pointing  to  the  fact  that 
all  begins  in  personal  cleanHness,  and  that  whatever 
hinders  or  prevents  the  personal  form,  hinders  and  pre- 


Cleaning  and  its  Processes.  205 

vents  the  development  of  all.  Once  more  then  we  have 
the  interdependence  of  home  and  state,  and  once  more 
we  return  to  the  consciousness  that  whatever  harms 
one  harms  all.  Cleanliness  then  is  ethics,  and  is  owed 
from  the  individual  to  every  other  individual.  The 
matter  of  food  may  have  its  strong  personal  bias,  with 
no  particular  harm  done  unless  indeed  the  individual 
is  bent  upon  abnormities  of  taste.  But  this  matter  of 
cleaning  concerns  the  State,  and  the  man  who  will  not 
wash,  usually  because  he  has  never  had  anything  to 
wash  in,  or  taught  the  delights  of  the  bath,  must  be 
made  to  have  his  tub  and  know  its  uses. 

For  the  home  then,  comes  first  this  business  of  per- 
sonal cleanliness,  from  the  first  bath  of  the  new  born 
child,  on  through  the  knowledge  of  all  that  water  and 
kindred  agencies  may  do  for  every  age,  and  all  phases 
of  life  for  this  body  of  man.  The  cleansing  of  gar- 
ments, with  every  most  delicate  and  careful  manner  of 
renewing  their  beaut}^,  by  laundry  processes  whether 
of  iron,  mangle,  or  pressure  ;  what  may  safely  be  used 
as  bleachers  with  no  danger  of  injuring  fabric,  and  the 
laws  that  govern  the  handling  of  each  tissue  whether 
silk,  linen,  cotton,  or  woollen — all  this  is  an  essential 
part  of  the  knowledge  of  every  woman,  since,  whether 
she  has  her  own  home  or  not,  she  at  least  has  knowl- 
edge of  the  homes  of  others,  and  is  interested  in  the 
care  of  her  own  belongings. 

Hard  on  this  comes  the  last  form,  vital  no  less  in  the 
State  than  in  the  home,  since,  where  perfect  cleanliness 
is  the  law  of  the  house,  and  the  child  sees  what  honor 
it  holds,  what  type  of  wisdom  it  demands  to  make  all 
processes  as  nearly  unseen  as  practicable,  yet  always 
constant,  always  certain,  such  child  will  not,  as  he 
passes  from  childhood  to  manhood,  and  the  larger  life 


2o6  Household  Economics. 

of  the  State,  give  less  care  to  the  public  cleaning  than 
he  has  known  under  his  own  roof.  It  is  because,  in 
part  at  least,  such  work  is  held  ignoble  and  de- 
grading— because  only  inferiors  as  a  rule  fulfil  its 
needs — that  our  public  housekeeping  makes  us  the 
shame  of  civilized  nations.  But  the  white  brigade  that 
marched,  fifteen  hundred  strong,  under  Colonel  George 
Waring,  our  greatest  sanitary  authority,  down  Broad- 
way in  the  spring  of  1896,  were  witness  of  what  had 
been  done,  and  what  will  be  done  as  this  business  of 
public  housekeeping  passes  from  the  hands  of  untaught, 
unscrupulous,  and  thieving  politicians  into  the  control 
that  long  ago  should  have  demanded  its  rights.  To 
keep  the  world  clean — this  is  one  great  task  for  women. 
Not  in  the  old  sense  of  scrubbing  away  at  her  own 
steps,  back  or  front,  a  passionate  scouring  of  tins,  and 
cleaning  of  stored  inutilities,  but  in  the  newer  one  of 
making  the  whole  world  so  clean  that  her  own  bit  of  it 
must  perforce  be  the  same.  For  means  to  this  end  I 
commend  you  to  the  manuals  whose  names  are  given, 
and  to  the  studj^  of  the  best  and  newest  forms  of  sani- 
tation, above  all  in  hospitals,  since  in  these  the  latest 
and  most  absolutely  secure  methods  of  cleaning  and  of 
keeping  clean  are  adopted  and  worked  out  in  full. 

It  is  no  part  of  the  present  lecture  to  give  special 
forms  of  cleaning.  Those  will  all  be  found  in  the  long 
chapter  devoted  to  *'  Cleaning,"  in  The  Easiest  Way  in 
Housekeeping  and  Cooking.  Lamps  alone,  wdth  their 
present  petticoated  exuberance  and  variety  of  styles, 
require  a  manual  to  themselves,  and  more  than  one 
woman  now  makes  a  living  in  going  from  house  to 
house  as  lamp-trimmer  and  care-taker.  Bric-a-brac 
also,  in  its  profuse  and  increasingly  delicate  orders, 
means  another  industry,  that  of  professional  duster. 


Cleaning  and  its  Processes.  207 

The  peripatetic  mender  of  glass  or  porcelain  finds  also 
a  vocation,  since  breakage  is  the  law  where  maids  and 
the  feather-duster  sweep  and  swoop  at  will.  Draperies 
and  rugs,  and  their  laws,  call  for  another.  In  short, 
the  modern  home,  where  wealth  brings  in  according  to 
fancy,  means  a  battalion  of  experts  in  charge,  and  this 
will  be  true  till  another  law  is  learned,  and  certain  now 
unknown  simplicities  are  recognized  as  the  necessity 
of  beauty. 

The  abolition  of  much  that  we  know  as  bric-a-brac, 
would  mean  enormous  gain  in  time  for  the  bulk  of 
housekeepers,  no  less  than  deep  rest  to  an  over-bur- 
dened world.  And  as  a  suggestion  of  a  future  in  which 
we  may  be  certain  that  evolution  will  give  us  not  only 
a  higher  art  sense,  but  a  deeper  sense  of  w^hat  belongs 
to  the  community,  let  me  quote  the  word  of  one  whose 
insight  is  at  many  points  unmatched  by  that  of  any 
English-speaking  man,  Edward  Carpenter  of  England  : 

*  *  Possibly  we  shall  some  day  again  build  our  houses  or  dwell- 
ing places  so  simple  and  elemental  in  character  that  they  will 
fit  in  the  nooks  of  the  hills  or  along  the  banks  of  the  streams 
or  by  the  edges  of  the  woods  without  disturbing  the  harmony 
of  the  landscape  or  the  songs  of  the  birds.  Then  the  great  tem- 
ples, beautiful  on  every  height,  or  by  the  shores  of  the  rivers 
and  the  lakes,  will  be  the  storehouses  of  all  precious  and  lovely 
things.  There  men,  women  and  children  will  come  to  share  in 
the  great  and  wonderful  common  life  ;  the  gardens  around  will 
be  sacred  to  the  unharmed  and  welcome  animals  !  There  will 
be  all  store  and  all  facilities  of  books  and  music  and  art  for  every- 
one. Every  village,  every  little  settlement  will  have  such  hall 
or  halls.  Gladly  will  each  man  and  more  gladly  still  each 
woman,  take  his  or  her  treasures,  except  what  are  immediately 
and  necessarily  in  use,  to  the  common  centre,  where  their  value 
will  be  increased  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  fold,  by  the  greater 
number  of  those  who  can  enjoy  them,  and  where  far  more  per- 
fectly and  with  far  less  toil,  they  can  be  tended,  than  if  scattered 


2o8  Household  Economics, 

abroad  in  private  hands.  At  one  stroke,  half  the  labor  and  all 
the  anxiety  of  domestic  care-taking  will  be  annihilated.  .  .  . 
Neither  man  nor  woman  will  be  tied  in  slavery  to  the  lodge 
which  they  inhabit ;  and  in  becoming  once  more  a  part  of 
nature,  the  human  habitation  will  at  length  cease  to  be  what  it 
is  now  for  at  least  half  the  human  race — a  prison." 

BIBI^IOGRAPHY  AND  RKFKRKNCKS. 

Bacteria  and  their  Products,  by  Germain  Sims  Woodhead. 
Dust  and  its  Dangers,  by  T.  Mitchell  Prudden. 
Chemistry  of  Cooking  and  Cleaning,  by  Mrs.  Ellen  H.  Richards. 
The  Chemistry  of  Cleaning,  by  Professor  Vivian  Lewis,  Armour 

Institute. 
"Thoughts  about  Dust,*' by  M.  A.  Molineux,  M.D.,  New  Eng" 

land  Kitchen  Magazine,  April,  1895. 
"Dangerous  Properties  of  Dust,"  by  F.  A.  Abel,  Nature,  vol. 

xxvi.,  p.  19. 
**The  Proper  Disposal  of  Household  Refuse,"  by  Committee 

of  the  Civic  Club,  Philadelphia,  The  New  England  Kitchen 

Magazine,  JvLTLQ,  1895. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
HOUSEHOLD  SERVICE. 

The  Servant  Question — Total  Inadequacy  of  Existing  Treat- 
ment— Failure  to  Grasp  Essential  Distinction  between  Ser- 
vice and  Labor — Service  a  Condition  Peculiar  to  Humanity 
— Philosophy  of  Service — Division  of  Labor  and  Co-ordina- 
tion— Primitive  Co-ordination  Compulsory — The  Army  of 
Xerxes  as  Illustration  of  its  Inferiority — Evolution  of  Ser- 
vice— Effect  of  Service  on  Character — Status  of  Domestic 
Service  in  Social  Economy — Present  Condition — Some 
Secondary  Conditions  of  Domestic  Service — The  Stranger 
within  our  Gates — Reports  of  Bureaus  of  Labor — Phila- 
delphia Special  Inquiry  in  this  Connection — Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
and  its  Work — Household  Employees  in  Australia — The 
Training  School  and  its  Results— Matters  of  Life  and  Death 
— Diploma  and  License — Servant,  Employee,  Artist,  and 
Professor. 

WH  have  now  come  to  that  most  vexed  and  vex- 
ing question  of  household  economy  as  at 
present  practised,  domestic  service.  It  is  a 
functional  difficulty,  an  imperfect,  arduous,  and  painful 
performance  of  those  internal  activities  essential  to  the 
life  of  the  household.  No  domestic  question  is  more 
discussed,  none  is  more  vital  to  the  comfort,  health,  and 
progress  of  our  lives  ;  yet  no  real  light  is  thrown  on 
it,  no  definite  advance  is  made. 
^*  209 


2 1  o  House Jio  Id  Econom  ics. 

Perhaps  this  is  largely  because  of  our  misapprehen- 
sion of  what  is  the  subject  under  discussion.  We  call 
it  the  "  Servant  Question."  It  is  really  the  ^^rz^zV^  ques- 
tion. Function  comes  before  organ  ;  the  servant  is  the 
product  of  the  service. 

It  is  service  which  we  have  now  to  consider  ;  domes- 
tic service  as  related  to  household  economy,  and  so  to 
social  economy.  In  our  common  treatment,  we  discuss 
such  points  as  the  inadequacy  of  our  servants,  the  in- 
subordination of  our  servants,  the  ingratitude  of  our 
servants  ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  the  inconsiderate 
treatment  of  our  servants,  the  social  inequalit)^  of  our 
servants,  the  lack  of  proper  knowledge  in  the  mistress 
of  our  servants.  These  are  all  interesting  points,  but 
none  of  them  touch  on  the  condition  of  which  the}^  are, 
indeed,  but  sjaiiptoms. 

lyCt  us  enter  upon  a  brief  and  necessarily  suggestive 
study  of  service,  knowing  that  it  can  be  no  more  than 
a  preface  to  the  larger  efforts  of  any  course  to  come. 
No  part  of  that  course  demands  more  thorough  under- 
standing than  this.  On  this  condition  of  domestic  ser- 
vice rests  the  status  of  household  economy,  and  on  the 
status  of  household  economy  rests  the  development  of 
social  econom}^  which  is  the  science  of  living.  This 
is  no  side  issue  of  passing  interest.  It  is  a  vital  process 
of  social  life. 

What  then  is  the  subject  we  are  to  study?  Service. 
What  is  ' '  service  "  ?  Is  it  equivalent  to  ' '  labor  "  ?  By 
no  means.  There  can  be  labor  without  service,  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  can  be  no  service  without 
labor. 

Service  is  a  form  of  labor. 

What  are  its  qualities  ?  Is  it,  as  we  are  so  sublimely 
told  by  the  minor  philosopher,  the  doing  of  something 


Household  Service,  2 1 1 

for  someone  else,  the  humanizing  and  elevating  process 
of  exchange  of  activities  in  which  we  all  live,  and  so 
serve  each  other,  and  so  are  all  servants  ? 

No,  I  grieve  to  say.  It  is  not.  This  use  of  the  word 
service  is  a  derivative  one.  It  is  used  in  the  sense  of 
all  intelligent  activity  serving  some  purpose,  being  in- 
tended for  something  or  someone,  and  so  ''serving" 
them.  As  the  musician  serves  to  make  music,  so  serves 
the  world,  so  is  our  servant.  It  is  a  far-fetched  and 
illegitimate  conclusion. 

The  essential  quality  of  service,  as  distinguished 
from  other  forms  of  labor,  is  that  it  is  done  under  the 
direction  of  some  one  person,  for  the  further  expression 
of  that  person's  will.  ' '  Ye  cannot  serve  two  masters. ' ' 
' '  The  servant ' '  implies  ' '  The  Master  "  ;  "  service  ' ' 
is  conditioned  upon  "mastery."  It  is  not  that  the 
labor  of  the  servant  ' '  serves ' '  some  one  person  or 
twenty.  In  that  sense,  trul}^,  we  all  serve  each  other. 
But  it  is  the  servant  himself  w^ho  '  *  serves  "  as  an  ex- 
tension of  personality  to  the  master ;  a  further  self 
through  which  to  do  his  wuU. 

The  difference  between  the  servant  and  the  laborer 
is  the  difference  between  obedience  and  agreement,  the 
difference  between  submission  and  acquiescence. 

Your  musician,  j^our  statesman,  your  scientist 
"  serve  "  truly  ;  they  serve  humanity,  as  a  book  serves 
to  hold  truth,  as  a  conduit  serves  to  bring  water,  as 
glass  serves  to  transmit  light.  Musician,  statesman, 
and  scientist  serve  consciously  and  intelligently,  and 
they  glory  in  their  service.  But  where  is  the  master 
to  these  servants?  The  moment  your  musician  or 
artist  or  poet,  your  statesman  or  inventor  is  bought  or 
hired  to  serve  a  master, — to  express  another's  will — 
their  glory  is  gone.     ' '  Mr.  So  and  So's  poet ' '  would  cut 


212  Household  Economics, 

no  higher  figure  than  "Mr.  So  and  So' s  butler,"  did 
he  but  serve  to  sing  his  master's  will  merely.  Even 
the  poet-laureate,  last  survival  of  the  bard  of  older 
days,  suffers  some  little  diminution  in  his  high  place  in 
that  he  has  to  sing  on  certain  occasions,  and  we,  with 
sure  instinct,  rightly  doubt  the  product  of  a  surrendered 
power. 

Let  us  look  back  now  to  the  evolution  of  human 
labor,  see  where  service  entered  into  it  and  how  and 
why  ;  and  what  its  course  has  been,  keeping  always 
an  open  and  unprejudiced  mind. 

Service,  be  it  said  in  passing,  is  a  condition  peculiar 
to  humanity.  Save  for  the  ants  and  their  slaves,  no 
creature  other  than  man  moves  a  limb  except  at  the 
instance  of  his  own  desire.  But  with  us,  from  the  be- 
ginning, one  has  bowed  to  another  and  we  have  extended 
our  interhuman  authority  to  the  doors  of  death  and 
beyond  them.  Now  let  us  very  earnestly  divest  our- 
selves of  such  superficial  apprehension  of  the  words 
we  are  to  use  as  would  prevent  the  deeper  perception 
of  their  meaning. 

The  verb  "to  serve,"  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is 
used  in  our  domestic  service,  demands  as  an  essential 
quality  that  other  verb  "  to  obey."  It  we  doubt  this, 
look  at  our  common  objection  of  "insubordination" 
among  our  servants.  It  is  a  "subordinate"  position. 
They  are  "  under  orders."  They  "must  obey."  But 
does  not  any  worker  obey  ?  yon  will  ask.  Are  we  not 
all  under  direction  of  someone  else  ?  Not  in  the  sense 
of  "  the  servant,"  by  any  possible  stretching  of  words. 
We  hire  a  servant  not  to  serve  the  ends  of  a  given  in- 
dustry, but  to  serve  us.  That  service  involves  not  the 
acceptance  of  a  few  main  directions,  but  incessant  obedi- 
ence to  varying  orders.   "  Servants  obey  your  masters." 


Ho2isehold  Service,  2 1 3 

If  it  is  the  work  they  do  whicli  makes  them  servants, 
if  all  men  who  work  for  each  other  are  servants, 
what  makes  the  difference  between  serving  as  an  ap- 
prentice and  being  a  free  workman  ?  The  workman  is 
the  same.  It  is  the  condition  of  tutelage  which  makes 
the  difference  ;  the  immediate,  incessant  subservience 
to  another's  will. 

The  best  growth  of  the  human  creature  comes  from 
the  development  of  our  two  great  human  characteris- 
tics :  judgment,  the  power  to  decide  among  conditions  ; 
and  will,  the  power  to  execute  that  decision.  These 
faculties,  like  all  others,  improve  by  practice.  Decide 
and  do  continually,  and  we  gain  power  to  decide  and 
do.  Surrender  this  power,  waive  our  judgment,  and 
give  up  our  will,  and  we  remain  undeveloped.  That 
is  why  "servants  are  like  children."  That  is  why 
certain  associate  characteristics,  *'  the  vices  of  the 
slave,"  always  distinguish  the  condition  of  servitude. 
It  is  a  sub-human  position. 

We  are  to  make  searching  analysis  of  the  birth  and 
growth  of  human  activity,  in  order  so  to  understand 
our  present  conditions  ;  and  it  must  be  done  on  a 
scientific  basis.  Life  means  change,  change  means 
motion  ;  motion,  in  an  organ,  means  action.  Action 
in  an  organism  becomes  two-fold  :  internal  and  ex- 
ternal. External  action,  in  an  organization,  divides 
again  into  individual  and  co-ordinate  activit}' — the 
action  of  the  individual  to  maintain  his  individual  life, 
and  the  co-ordinate  action  of  the  organization  to  main- 
tain its  corporate  life. 

In  this  line  of  development,  the  vegetable  world  is 
limited  almost  to  the  internal  action  of  an  organ  ;  ex- 
ternal action,  as  of  an  organism,  is  checked  by  their 
relation  to  the  food  supply,  which  is  fixed.     The  only 


2 1 4  Household  Economics. 

external  action  of  a  plant  is  where  it  circumvents  ob- 
stacles, turns  towards  the  light,  etc. 

The  animal  organism,  being  free  to  run  after  its  food 
suppl}' ,  developed  of  necessit}^  a  high  degree  of  exter- 
nal activity  ;  but  made  only  slight  advance  towards 
co-ordination.  Packs  of  hunting-dogs  or  wolves  are 
vaguely  co-ordinated.  The  service  of  the  sentinel 
among  some  grazing  animals,  and  among  the  beavers, 
is  rudimentary  organization.  The  exception  of  the  ants 
and  bees,  a  notable  one,  rests  on  their  having  a  fixed 
food  supply,  plentiful,  and  obtainable  by  simple  means. 
This  gave  them  the  fixed  habitat  and  surplus  energy 
for  a  common  end,  which  flows  into  organic  relation 
as  inevitably  as  nomadism,  over-exertion,  and  diverse 
ends  prevent  it. 

Man  went  through  the  same  process.  As  a  carnivo- 
rous nomad  he  remained  unorganized,  save  for  occa- 
sional hunting  and  fighting  combinations,  no  nobler 
than  the  dog  pack.  His  pastoral  era  was  a  singular 
step.  The  full  and  constant  supply  of  meat  without 
the  exertion  of  hunting  or  the  danger  of  fighting,  de- 
veloped nervous  energy  to  a  vast  extent,  while  his 
ferocity  was  necessarily  checked  by  the  nature  of  his 
food  supph^  He  had  to  preserve — more  than  to  de- 
stroy— and  it  "altered  human  nature"  tremendously. 

Still,  there  were  limits.  It  took  many  cattle  to  have 
their  increase  maintain  a  family,  and  families  grew. 
Many  cattle  took  much  grass,  much  grass  took  much 
ground.  Men  had  to  wander  and  live  far  apart  ; 
and  the  progress  of  humanity  rests  upon  men's  living 
together.  Still,  co-ordinate  labor  made  some  progress 
in  the  pastoral  era.  The  famil}"  was  knit  closely  to- 
gether b}^  their  continued  isolation  and  wandering  life. 
What  relation   did   establish   itself  was   between   the 


Household  Service.  2 1 5 

members  of  the  family  on  lines  of  aflfection  and  mutual 
need,  and  between  them  and  their  cattle  who  kept 
them  alive. 

With  the  development  of  the  family  into  the  tribe 
came  a  sense  of  human  relationship  hitherto  unknown. 
This  big  family  had  a  common  beginning  and  a  com- 
mon end,  and  so  learned  common  effort.  Here  comes 
in  '*  service  "  in  its  specific  sense. 

The  hunting  savage  could  make  no  slave,  because 
he  could  not  hunt  for  him.  That  would  be  to  be  his 
slave  ;  and  to  arm  him  for  the  hunt  meant  to  free  him. 
To  hunt  for  a  living  means  freedom,  as  dust  is  free. 
The  pastoral  savage  could  make  slaves  and  did.  There 
w^as  abundance  to  eat,  and  the  maimed  slave  could 
guide  the  herd  while  the  master  guided  him.  Pastoral 
slavery  is  mild  and  pleasant.  The  family  was,  in  any 
case,  a  despotism.  There  was  no  distinction  between 
son  and  slave,  or  wife  and  slave,  till  it  came  to  prop- 
erty— and  "that  is  another  story." 

But  with  agriculture  came  a  great  change.  Again 
the  food  supply  increased  in  amount  and  decreased  in 
extent,  so  to  speak.  The  hunter  must  have  forty 
square  miles,  to  eat  ;  the  shepherd  four,  perhaps  ;  the 
farmer  with  a  few  acres  can  raise  more  food  in  less  time 
than  either  of  them.  And  now  that  his  food  supply 
was  stationary  he  could  build  a  house.  Then  with  the 
immense  increase  in  surplus  energy,  came  the  multi- 
form activities  of  human  life  ;  and  those  multiform 
activities  demanded  in  their  very  nature  co-ordinated 
labor- 
As  we  have  already  seen  in  our  study  of  the  develop- 
ment of  industry,  human  labor  is  developed  in  propor- 
tion to  the  number  it  is  done  by  and  the  number  it  is 
done  for.     In  this  industrial  sense  the  house  servant 


2 1 6  Household  Economics. 

is  limited  absolutely  in  that  his  work  is  done  for  one, 
the  bottom  limit.  It  is  only  human  at  all  in  that  it  is 
not  done  for  oneself.  Effort  for  personal  ends  is  the 
effort  of  the  animal ;  human  effort  is  essentially  co- 
ordinate, but  this  is  its  lowest  form. 

Divided  and  co-ordinate  labor  is  the  external  func- 
tion of  the  human  organization.  Just  as  our  internal 
organs  labor  co-ordinately  for  the  preservation  of  our 
lives,  and  therefore  of  their  own,  finding  a  far  better 
livelihood  as  well  fed,  well  warmed,  well  guarded 
organs  of  definite  use,  than  ever  they  found  as  hap- 
less amoebae,  so  we,  human  beings,  labor  co-ordinately 
in  our  well-defined  activities  for  the  preservation  of 
the  social  life,  in  which  is  our  own  ;  finding  a  far  better 
livelihood  as  artists,  artisans,  and  the  like  than  ever  we 
did  in  the  disconnected  freedom  of  the  noble  savage. 

This  growth,  however,  required  in  the  beginning 
compulsion.  When  the  increasing  power  of  the  brain 
called  for  more  than  one  pair  of  hands  to  execute  its 
intentions,  the  larger  brain  knew  no  better  way  of 
securing  the  aid  of  the  other  hands  than  by  enforced 
service.  Compulsory  servitude  is  the  first  form  of 
co-operation  ; — of  working  together.  In  its  lowest 
form  the  superior  party  in  the  arrangement  deputed 
all  the  work  to  the  inferior,  contenting  himself  with 
direction  merely,  and  living  without  personal  labor. 
The  evil  effects  of  this  condition  are  clearly  instanced 
by  any  advanced  form  of  chattel  slavery. 

The  unintelligent  and  undesired  labor  of  the  slave 
degrades  him  ;  and  the  position  of  the  master,  cut  off 
from  the  human  relation,  degrades  him  also. 

The  failure  of  this  process  of  laboring  through 
others  instead  of  with  them,  finds  glaring  instance  in 
the  rout  of  the  army  of  Xerxes.     His  soldiers  were 


Household  Service.  2 1 7 

slaves  whipped  to  the  front  by  their  officers  and  masters. 
The  little  band  of  free  Greeks,  who  did  their  own 
fighting,  easily  overcame  them  despite  the  vast  pro- 
portion in  which  the  Greeks  were  outnumbered. 

Soldier,  artist,  craftsman,  every  form  of  human 
activity  which  reaches  high  development,  does  so  in 
proportion  to  its  freedom.  That  is  a  mere  truism  after 
all — growth  means  freedom.  A  thing  restrained  can- 
not grow. 

The  only  evolution  of  which  service  is  capable,  lies 
in  the  multiplication  of  individual  needs  and  the  de- 
velopment of  specialized  servants  for  each  need.  From 
the  Man  Friday  era  to  the  servant  ridden  household 
of  the  Oriental,  or  our  own  horde  of  retainers,  we 
find  House  Steward,  Housekeeper,  Cook,  I^aundress, 
lyady's  Maid,  Valet,  Groom  of  the  Chambers,  Butler, 
Coachman,  Footman,  Stable  Groom,  House  Maid, 
Chamber  Maid,  Parlor  Maid,  Still  Room  Maid,  Pantry 
Maid,  Scullery  Maid,  Nurse,  and  Nursery  Governess, 
with  all  their  second  and  even  third  assistants  down  to 
*  *  Boots ' '  and  * '  Buttons, ' '  comprising  the  list  of  a 
fashionable  New  York  or  London  menage. 

It  is  vain  multiplication  of  titles  after  all  ;  the}^  are 
all  servants  and  they  all  serve  us.  Now  one  human 
creature,  however  wealthy  or  great,  is  too  limited  a 
field  to  offer  full  scope  even  to  his  own  activities,  to 
say  nothing  of  those  of  numbers  of  other  people. 

That  is  why  the  evolution  of  service  from  the  cower- 
ing slave  of  earliest  times,  who  did  all  things  he  was 
told  as  far  as  his  powers  went,  to  the  haughty  lady's 
maid  who  will  not  do  the  work  of  the  parlor  maid,  or 
any  other  maid  or  man  whatever,  has  produced  no 
higher  result.  All  these  complex  activities  are  bent 
to  serve  personal  needs,  a  hopeless  limit. 


2 1 8  Household  Economics. 

Understand  clearly  that  the  effect  of  service  upon 
character  is  not  the  effect  of  the  thing  done — it  is  the 
effect  of  the  special  condition  or  relation  in  which  it 
is  done.  Xerxes'  soldiers  and  the  Greek  soldiers  were 
both  fighting.  The  difference  was  between  bond  and 
free.  The  effect  of  service  upon  character  lies  in  the 
relation,  the  abnegation  of  one's  own  will  processes 
and  power  of  judgment,  and  the  establishment  instead 
of  an  artificial  connection  between  one  mind  and 
another  body.  It  is  an  absolutely  artificial  relation  ; 
it  cannot  grow  into  that  perfect  automatic  action  which 
characterizes  high  organic  development.  It  simply 
hobbles  two  or  more  human  beings  together,  and 
reduces  their  progress  accordingly.  So  thoroughly 
has  this  been  proven  in  the  advancement  of  the  world, 
that  whereas  all  labor  was  once  the  slave's,  now  we 
have  left  in  all  our  field  of  industry  no  personal  servi- 
tude save  in  the  household.  The  house  servant  and 
the  body  servant  are  all  that  remain  to  us  from  the 
time  when  the  pyramids  rose  from  the  plain,  and 
nation  after  nation  fell  because  its  internal  organ- 
ism was  out  of  order  ;  the  co-ordinate  activity  which 
is  national  life  being  wrongly  carried  on. 

We  complain  of  our  servants  for  manifesting  certain 
traits  which  are  just  as  inevitable  a  product  of  their 
position  as  are  their  complements  in  us  a  product  of 
ours.  But  one  trait  is  developed  in  both  master  or 
mistress  and  servant,  a  certain  irresponsibility  which 
is  a  fruit  of  the  curious  relation.  The  servant  is  a 
mindless  body,  as  it  were  ;  the  master  or  mistress  a 
bodiless  mind.  Left  apart,  they  are  both  lazy  ;  to- 
gether, the  master  is  lazy-bodied  ;  the  servant  lazy- 
minded.  And  they  are  both  inclined  to  be  cruel,  as  a 
fruit  of  that  irresponsibility. 


Household  Service.  219 

It  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  interfere  in  orderly  natural 
processes  ;  and  the  relation  of  master  and  servant  does 
so  interfere  to  a  large  extent. 

So  stands  domestic  service  in  our  social  economy, — 
the  last  survival  of  the  lowest  form  of  human  labor. 
By  its  presence  it  deteriorates  other  forms  of  labor  ; 
the  sense  of  degradation  being  still  kept  in  mind  ;  the 
child  growing  up  in  an  atmosphere  where  *'  menial  ser- 
vice ' '  is  still  a  living  thought,  and  by  its  low  order  of 
labor  keeps  back  the  household  industries,  on  the  fur- 
ther development  of  which  our  new  progress  now  rests. 

In  its  present  condition,  we  have  a  curious  deadlock. 
The  increasing  complexity  of  household  life  has  evolved 
our  household  industries  to  a  degree  where  their  proper 
performance  demands  a  higher  order  of  ability  than  is 
found  among  servants.  The  condition  of  domestic 
servitude  allows  only  the  development  of  a  certain  de- 
gree of  ability,  not  sufficient  to  rightl}^  perform  our 
complex  domestic  industries.  So  there  we  are.  When 
we  find  a  person  able  to  carry  on  modern  household 
industries,  that  person  will  not  be  our  servant.  And 
when  we  find  a  person  willing  to  be  our  servant,  that 
person  is  unable  to  carr}^  on  modern  household  in- 
dustries. 

These  are  the  facts. 

Before  passing  on  to  the  kind  of  labor  which  is 
essential  to  the  smooth  working  of  the  modern  house- 
hold, I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  some  of  the  sec- 
ondary conditions  of  our  domestic  service  system. 
Note,  first,  that  it  is  performed  almost  entirely  by 
women.  Now  women  and  men  exist  in  about  equal 
numbers  on  the  earth,  and  should  be  monogamously 
married.  The  order  of  industry  which  puts  into  a 
given  household  more  than  one  woman  to  serve  its 


2  2  o  Household  Econom  ics, 

needs  robs  that  woman  of  a  home.  What  manner  of 
system  is  that  which  uuhomes  half  the  women  of  the 
world  to  serve  the  other  half? 

Every  woman  should  be  free  to  marry,  to  become  a 
mother,  and  every  mother  should  have  a  home  of  her 
own  for  her  children.  This  cannot  be  for  those  who 
occupy  our  smallest,  poorest  rooms,  go  in  and  out  the 
back  door,  and  do  the  work  which  none  of  us  will  do 
when  we  are  able  to  hire  it  done.  Our  system  of  house- 
hold service  is  not  only  low  in  its  industrial  develop- 
ment and  limited  by  the  condition  of  servitude,  but  it 
is  also  essentially  a  celibate  system,  and  as  such  essen- 
tially wrong.  The  "  house  maid"  is  rightly  called, 
maid  she  is  expected  to  be,  or  possibly  widow,  but 
marriage  and  motherhood  are,  as  a  whole,  incompatible 
with  the  position  of  servant.  The  "housewife"  is 
the  mistress  and  she  is  served  by  maids,  direct  survival 
of  the  time  when  residence  with  the  lady  of  the  manor 
was  the  only  safe  life  outside  the  convent,  and  service 
the  condition  of  residence. 

The  only  amelioration  to  this  condition  to-day  is  the 
stinted  and  grudging  allowance  of  time  to  visit  family 
and  friends,  or  a  room  to  receive  them  ;  and  the  com- 
monly resented  marriage  of  the  "maid"  whose  time 
and  strength  are  deemed  so  much  better  used  in  our 
service. 

Observe  the  effect  of  this  system  on  the  development 
of  household  industries  and  arts.  What  progress  can 
be  expected  in  a  young  woman  of  a  low  tj^pe,  in  work 
which  she  only  does  for  a  little  while  and  discontinues 
once  for  all  on  marriage  ?  It  keeps  the  grade  of  labor 
down  to  the  level  of  the  least  developed  half,  of  the 
least  developed  class,  in  its  least  developed  age. 

Another  secondary  condition  of  our  domestic  service 


Household  Service,  221 

is  the  isolation  of  the  maid  and  its  resuhs.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  household  are  no  ''  company  "  for  the  maid. 
She  lives  in  social  isolation,  one  of  the  most  painful 
conditions  of  existence.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  it  is 
so  much  easier  to  keep  servants  when  we  have  more 
than  one. 

Another  feature  is  on  the  side  of  the  mistress ;  the 
constant  presence  in  the  family,  the  most  intimate  and 
incessant  association  of  one  who  is  and  must  be  a 
stranger  within  our  gates  ;  an  alien  element  whose  in- 
fluence on  our  children  must  be  constantly  watched, 
at  whose  entrance  conversation  ceases  or  is  checked, 
and  whose  presence  is  in  open  contradiction  to  that 
privacy  on  which  rests  the  essential  thought  of  home. 

From  the  employer's  standpoint,  there  are  certain 
very  marked  advantages  in  domestic  service.  First, 
and  most  obvious,  is  the  fact  that  wages  are  not  only 
relatively  but  absolutely  high  ;  for,  aside  from  actual 
wages,  there  is  also  board,  lodging,  fuel,  light,  and 
laundry,  all  of  which  the  worker  in  trades  must  pro- 
vide for  herself.  No  capital  is  required,  as  in  the  case 
of  type-writers  and  sewing-machine  workers  ;  nor  is 
the  girl,  under  our  prudent  system  of  taking  untrained 
domestics  just  landed,  forced  to  spend  anything  in  pre- 
paratory training.  Professor  I^ucy  Salmon,  of  Vassar 
College,  collected  statistics  from  three  thousand  em- 
ploying families,  and  found  that  on  a  wage  of  $3.25  a 
week  it  is  possible  for  a  servant  to  save  annually 
nearly  $150,  "in  an  occupation  involving  no  outlay, 
no  investment  of  capital,  and  few  or  no  personal  ex- 
penses." The  wages  paid  are  relatively  higher  than 
those  in  other  occupations,  for  in  Professor  Salmon's 
comparison  of  the  wages  received  by  3000  employees 
in  the  country  and  the  same  number  in  the  citj^  it  was 


2  2  2  Household  Economics, 

found  that  of  6000  teachers  in  the  public  schools  the 
average  salary  actually  paid  is  less  than  that  paid  to 
the  average  cook  in  a  large  city. 

The  second  advantage  claimed  for  domestic  service 
from  the  employer's  standpoint  is  the  healthfulness  of 
the  work,  which  includes  not  only  regularity,  but  also 
variety.  A  third  alleged  advantage  is  that  a  home,  in 
externals  at  least,  is  insured  to  the  worker.  The 
fourth  advantage  is  that  a  training  which  makes  the 
worker  better  fitted  for  married  life  is  certain.  And 
the  fifth  alleged  advantage  is  that  for  those  who  like 
it  the  work  is  easj^ 

Such  are  the  arguments  urged  upon  the  army  of 
underpaid,  half-starving  needlewomen  in  our  great 
cities,  and  on  that  other  armj^  in  factories  and  shops, 
who  are  implored  to  consider  the  superiority  of  the  ad- 
vantages offered  by  domestic  service.  Astonishment 
that  these  armies  of  women  prefer  the  factory  and  the 
shop  is  unending,  nor  is  it  generally  believed  that  any 
good  and  substantial  reason  for  such  a  choice  can  ex- 
ist. As  a  means  of  arriving  at  some  solution  of  the 
problem,  some  six  hundred  employees  of  every  order 
were  interviewed  under  circumstances  which  made 
their  replies  perfectly  free  and  full ;  and  the  results  of 
these  interviews  tallied  exactly  with  others  obtained 
by  an  inquiry  in  the  Philadelphia  Working  Women's 
Guild,  a  society  representing  seventy-two  distinct  oc- 
cupations. A  report  of  this  inquiry  was  made  by  Mrs. 
Kliza  S.  Turner,  the  President  of  the  Guild,  a  sum- 
mary of  which  was  given  in  the  WorkiJig  lVoma?ts' 
Journal  published  by  the  Guild.  In  the  situation  as  a 
whole,  the  objections  from  those  'who  had  tried  it,  and 
those  who  had  been  urged  to  try  it,  were  practically 
the  same.     Kind  as   mistresses  might  be,   there  was 


Household  Service,  223 

still  the  loss  of  personal  liberty  and  the  social  ostra- 
cism which  goes  side  by  side  with  it,  aud  no  training- 
school  on  earth  is  likely  to  alter  these  facts,  or  make 
the  self-respecting  American  girl  accept  the  form  of 
labor  which  bears,  in  spite  of  our  best  endeavors,  the 
stamp  of  degradation.  Certain  stipulations  were  made 
by  all,  some  laying  stress  upon  one  point,  some  upon 
another,  but  the  general  average  uniting  in  those  that 
follow : 

1.  A  definition  of  what  a  day's  work  means,  pay- 
ment for  all  over-time  required,  or  certain  hours  of 
absolute  freedom  guaranteed,  especially  where  the  posi- 
tion is  that  of  child's  nurse. 

2.  A  comfortably  warmed  and  decently  furnished 
room,  with  separate  beds  if  two  occupy  it,  and  both 
decent  place  and  appointments  for  meals. 

3.  The  heaviest  work,  such  as  carrying  coal,  scrub- 
bing pavements,  washing,  etc.,  to  be  arranged  for  if 
this  is  asked,  with  a  consequent  deduction  in  wages. 

4.  No  livery  if  there  is  feeling  against  it. 

5.  The  privilege  of  seeing  friends  in  a  better  part  of 
the  house  than  the  kitchen,  and  security  from  espion- 
age during  such  time,  whether  the  visitors  are  male 
or  female.  This  to  be  accompanied  by  reasonable  re- 
strictions as  to  hours,  and  with  the  condition  that  work 
is  not  be  neglected. 

6.  Such  a  manner  of  speaking  to  and  of  the  server 
as  shall  show  that  there  is  no  contempt  for  housework, 
and  that  it  is  actually  as  respectable  as  other  occupations. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  that,  save  with  the  most  intel- 
ligent and  fair-minded  mistresses,  there  is  not  the 
slightest  chance  of  carrying  out  these  very  simple  stip- 
ulations, and  that  thus  we  find  ourselves  precisely 
where  we  were  in  the  beginning. 


224  Household  Econo7n ics. 

At  this  point,  it  must  again  be  said  that  this  is  one 
of  the  vexed  questions  of  modern  life  ;  that  hardly  any 
two  mistresses  agree  as  to  the  facts  and  their  practical 
or  ethical  bearing,  and  that  it  has  been  and  remains 
almost  impossible  to  look  at  the  matter  impersonally. 
Volumes  have  been  written,  and  volumes  more  will  be 
written,  only  a  few  of  which  have  any  real  right  to  a 
hearing.  One  of  the  best  considerations  of  the  matter 
has  been  written,  by  Professor  I<ucy  Salmon  ;  but  even 
her  work,  as  she  herself  recognizes,  has  sharp  limita- 
tions. The  labor  bureau  reports  of  the  various  States, 
led  by  that  of  Colorado,  have  but  just  begun  to  inves- 
tigate general  conditions.  In  the  meantime,  though  a 
very  large  proportion  of  American  families  keep  no  ser- 
vant, the  reports  of  the  last  census  give  the  number  of 
women  engaged  in  domestic  service  as  over  a  million, 
the  lowest  rough  estimate  of  the  aggregate  wages  paid, 
being  $160,000,000,  and  the  support  received  in  addi- 
tion to  this  money  wages  amounting  to  about  as  much 
more. 

It  is  through  the  hands  of  the  domestic  servant  that 
a  large  part  of  the  finished  product  of  other  forms  of 
labor  must  pass,  and  the  economic  aspects  of  the  ques- 
tion grow  constantly  in  importance.  A  just  considera- 
tion of  all  the  points  involved  is  infinitely  difiicult, 
since  even  in  the  face  of  the  damaging  facts  given  us  in 
labor  reports  as  to  actual  conditions,  the  mistress  who 
listens  answers  with  profound  indignation  :  ''My  girl 
or  girls  always  had  this,  that,  and  the  other." 

Drop  personal  pronouns.  It  is  not  the  particular  in- 
stance, but  the  general,  that  regulates  conclusions,  and 
the  sociological  student  and  collector  of  facts  must 
have  the  final  voice.  It  is  quite  plain  from  the  inves- 
tigations of  the  Labor  Bureaus  that  domestic  service  is 


Household  Service,  225 

in  many  points  more  undesirable  than  any  other  occu- 
pation open  to  women.  The  Labor  Commissioner  of 
Minnesota  takes  pains  to  state  every  advantage  of  the 
domestic  over  the  general  worker,  and  adds  :  "  Only  a 
fifth  of  those  who  employ  them  are  fit  to  deal  with  any 
worker,  injustice  and  oppression  characterizing  their 
methods."  Figures  and  detailed  statements  bear  him 
out  in  this  conclusion. 

The  commissioner  for  Colorado  gives  even  more 
details,  and  comes  to  the  same  conclusion.  A  very 
elaborate  presentation  of  facts  for  both  employer  and 
employed  was  given  at  the  Domestic  Science  Congress 
in  connection  with  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago  in  May, 
1893,  at  which  every  phase  of  wrong  and  remedy  were 
discussed.  The  sum  of  the  remedies  suggested  con- 
sisted in,  first  the  formation  of  bureaus  of  employment 
in  every  large  city ;  second,  fixed  schedules  of  pay- 
ment ;  third,  full  preparatory  training. 

A  keen  observer  of  social  facts  has  stated  :  The  in- 
telligence ofl&ces  of  New  York  alone  receive  yearly  from 
servants  over  three  million  dollars  and  are  notoriously 
inefficient.  This  sum,  or  even  half  of  it,  would  pro- 
vide a  great  centre  with  training-schools,  lodgings  for 
all  who  needed  them,  and  a  system  by  which  fixed  rates 
would  be  made  according  to  the  grade  of  efficiency  of 
the  worker.  Till  household  service  comes  under  the 
laws  determining  value,  as  well  as  number  of  hours  and 
all  other  points  involved  in  the  wages  of  a  working 
day,  it  must  remain  in  the  disorganized  and  hopeless 
state  which  at  present  baffles  our  housekeepers  and 
deters  self-respecting  girls  and  women  from  under- 
taking it. 

An  organization  like  that  suggested  is  possible  for 
every  city,  and  each  should  have  its  great  agency,  cor- 


226  Household  Economics, 

responding  to  the  Bourse  de  Travail  in  Paris,  but  even 
more  comprehensive  in  scope. 

Co-operation,  or  combination  in  such  limited  degrees 
that  private  home  life  will  not  not  be  infringed  upon, 
must  necessarily  make  part  of  such  a  scheme,  but  de- 
tails as  to  these  possibilities  must  be  deferred  to  a  time 
when  full  treatment  can  be  given. 

Very  positive  indications  of  change  in  the  popular 
conception  of  domestic  service  come  from  many  points. 
The  National  Household  Economic  Association,  formed 
in  1893,  a  full  account  of  the  work  of  which  is  given  in 
the  Appendix,  has  had  much  influence  in  these  direc- 
tions, and  its  branches  in  manj^  of  our  cities  and  larger 
towns,  are  all  doing  efl&cient  work  in  altering  present 
standards  and  insisting  upon  training  for  mistress  and 
maid  alike.  Philadelphia  has  a  Household  Economic 
Section  in  its  civic  league,  and  has  printed  a  leaflet  of 
Standards  of  Work  and  Wages  in  Household  Labor, 
which  goes  far  toward  clearing  the  air.  Syracuse,  New 
York,  is  busy  in  the  same  lines  and  has  accomplished 
good  results.  New  York  announces  a  Servants'  League 
for  protection  against  the  extortions  of  the  intelligence 
ofiice,  and  self-respecting  servants  are  quietly  studying 
the  question  and  seeking  to  understand  the  ethics  and 
the  political  economy  of  the  subject,  two  things  that  do 
not  always  go  together.  A  long  list  could  be  made  of 
points  where  intelligent  women  are  forming  leagues  for 
themselves  and  for  household  helpers,  but  for  each  and 
all  is  the  enormous  difiiculty  of  dispassionate  consider- 
ation of  a  thing  that  takes  hold  upon  the  very  springs 
of  life. 

Australia,  that  wonderful  country  which  seems  to  be 
solving  practically  problems  that  baffle  civilization  at 
all  points,  has  outlined  a  scheme  that  promises  admira- 


Household  Service.  227 

bly  well.  The  word  servant  with  all  its  detested  im- 
plications and  associations  is  dropped  entirely,  the 
substitution  being  Household  Employees.  Recognizing 
the  necessity  of  the  many  hours  of  labor  required  by 
our  present  system  of  life,  two  shifts  of  employees  ex- 
change, one  coming  on  from  5  or  6  a.m.  to  2  p.m.  ;  the 
other,  from  2  p.m.  to  such  evening  hour  as  is  fixed. 
Training  schools  are  included,  and  all  labor  is  graded 
with  a  fixed  rate  of  payment  for  each  form  and  for  all 
overtime.  It  is  shown  that  under  such  S5^stem  the  cost 
to  the  householder  will  be  no  greater,  and  the  comfort 
and  efficiency  of  service  enormously  increased.  On  the 
side  of  the  employee  will  be  the  personal  independence 
so  often  lost  and  so  desired,  and  a  standard  so  much 
higher,  that  it  is  claimed  a  far  more  intelligent 
class  will  gladly  enter  the  ranks  of  household  em- 
ployees. 

In  England  sore  trouble  in  these  directions  is  giving 
rise  to  a  whirlwind  of  discussion,  and  an  admirable 
pamphlet  which  has  had  wide  circulation,  Democracy 
171  the  Kitchen,  by  Mrs.  H.  Ellis,  contains  an  earnest 
and  most  suggestive  summary  of  the  situation  and 
some  of  the  remedies. 

At  this  point  we  are  forced  to  drop  the  subject.  We 
have  the  pros  and  cons  in  as  compact  fashion  as  pos- 
sible, and  I  give  you  such  authorities  as  may  be  said 
to  have  any  weight  ;  all  other  phases,  historical  and 
otherwise,  waiting  the  time  for  larger  treatment.  I 
shall  add  only  that  out  of  such  study  as  ours  will  grow 
both  conviction  and  action.  At  no  distant  day  the  domes- 
tic employee  will  be  asked  to  show  diploma  and  license, 
and  from  servant  shall  pass  through  all  the  transitions 
of  employee,  artist,  and  professor,  to  that  high  ground 
toward  which  all  service  tends,  and  this  matter  of  do- 


2  28  Household  Economics, 

mestic  employment  shall  take  the  place  that  rightfully 
belongs  to  it. 

BIBI^IOGRAPHY  AND  RKFKRKNCKS. 

The  Servant  Question,  by  Harriet  Prescott  Spofford. 
"Domestic  Service,"  by  Prof.   Lucy  Salmon,  New  England 

Magazine,  1893. 
Domestic  Service,  by  Mrs.  C.  L.  Stone. 
The  Biddy  Club,  by  Griffith  A.  Nicholas. 
'*  Domestic  Service,"  by  B.  P.  Whipple,  The  Forum,  vol.  i,  p. 

25. 

Prisoners  of  Poverty,  by  Helen  Campbell ;  Chapters  on  Domes- 
tic Service. 

**  A  Belated  Industry,"  by  Jane  Addams,  of  Hull  House,  The 
American  Journal  of  Sociology,  June,  1875. 

Hull  House  Maps  and  Papers,  Thomas  Y.  Crowell  &  Co. 

Democracy  in  the  Kitchen,  by  Mrs.  H.  Ellis,  High  Stratley 
Cottage,  Haslemere,  Surrey. 

"Dishonesty  and  Caste,"  by  Ethel  Davis,  American  Kitchen 
Magazine,  1895. 

"The  Home  and  the  Labor  Problem,"  by  Helen  Ekin  Starrett, 
American  Kitchen  Magazine,  February,  1895. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

ORGANIZED  IvIVING. 

Law  of  Organization  in  Individual  and  Species — Organic  Kvolu- 
tion,  Racial,  National,  Civic,  Domestic — Primitive  Condi- 
tions of  Household  Economy — The  Woman's  World  and 
the  Man's — How  to  "  Keep  the  Boys  at  Home  " — Survivals 
and  Rudiments — Effects  on  the  Brain — Strain  of  Contending 
Eras — Relation  to  Progress — Home  Influence — The  Matrix 
of  Civilization— How  We  Really  Live— Flat,  Club,  Hotel, 
and  Boarding-House — Reaction  and  Compr(^^ise — Lines  of 
Development — Scientific  Prophecy — Asa  Gray  and  his  Un- 
known Butterfly— Our  Possibilities — The  Higher  Education 
and  the  Hig^her  Life. 


BRIEF  and  incomplete  as  are  the  lines  of  thought 
we  have  thus  far  followed,  they  must,  I  am  cer- 
tain, speak  to  us  of  its  vital  importance  and 
convince  us  that  Household  Economics  and  Social 
Economics  can  in  no  wise  be  divorced.  The  present 
condition  of  things  in  all  the  phases  we  have  sought  to 
understand,  is  a  bar  to  progress.  Its  study  is  one  of 
the  first  duties  of  civilization.  A  National  Commis- 
sion to  inquire  into  Household  Economics,  would  be 
as  important  and  useful  as  any  bureau  of  inquiry  yet 
instituted.     Perhaps  we  may  see  one  yet. 

Diverge  and  develop  as  we  may,  the  place  we  come 
from  still  modifies  us   all.     The  house  in  which  we 

22Q 


230  Household  Economics, 

are  born,  its  conditions  and  environment,  mark  us  for 
life  in  brain  and  body.  Let  the  social  activities  of  man 
and  woman  be  what  they  ma}^  while  their  domestic 
environment  remains  as  it  is  to-day,  our  progress  is 
rigidly  limited. 

At  this  point  let  us  summarize  briefly  the  thought 
we  have  already  followed.  Progressive  organization 
is  the  law  of  life,  the  upward  line  of  evolution. 

Organic  evolution  is  the  process  by  which  all  forms 
of  life  develop,  and  this  means  not  merely  differentia- 
tion and  specialization,  but  relation.  The  interrelation 
of  organs  is  an  essential  condition  of  their  develop- 
ment. In  social  evolution  this  is  now  made  clear  by 
Sociology.  A  people  must  develop  certain  complex 
and  interdependent  industries  in  order  to  grow  to  power 
and  distinction.  Mere  numbers  of  people  do  not  make 
a  great  race.  It  must  be  related,  vitally  interdepend- 
ent ;  so  commonly  connected  as  to  have  some  sort  of 
common  consciousness  before  they  form  a  distinct  racial 
power. 

This  racial  evolution  demands  a  commensurate  na- 
tional evolution,  the  growth  of  the  administrative 
function  being  like  the  growth  of  nerve  and  brain 
power  in  a  ph3\sical  organization. 

Civic  evolution  calls  for  the  same  process.  A  city  is 
more  than  a  number  of  housed  people  within  a  wall. 
A  city  is  a  little  organism  in  itself,  with  its  necessary 
structures  and  communicating  streets  and  public  build- 
ings ;  its  necessary  functions  internal  and  external. 
And  within  the  city  are  the  households,  each  a  little  or- 
ganism in  itself,  and  obeying  the  same  law  of  evolution. 

All  these  outward  forms  of  human  life  are  as  vital, 
as  essential,  as  actually  connected  with  the  soul  and 
man  and  its  true  growth,  as  is  his  immediate  material 


Organized  Living.  2  3 1 

body .  The  line  is  unbroken,  the  soul  forming  the  body 
first,  a  vehicle  of  expression,  a  means  of  growth.  Old 
Chaucer  knew  it  and  made  his  statement  in  a  day  when 
it  had  small  meaning  for  those  who  read  : 

'*  For  soul  is  form  and  doth  the  body  make." 

Given  the  bodily  form,  the  soul  continues  to  find 
expression  and  growth  through  clothing  and  furniture, 
house  and  cit3^  This  last,  the  city,  is  the  limit  of 
material  expression  in  humanit}^  and  through  the  or- 
ganic activities  of  body,  home,  city,  and  state,  we  reach 
the  largest  human  entity. 

The  ideal  city,  the  city  to  come,  and  that  we  shall 
make  possible,  is  the  certainty  of  that  larger  thought 
which  the  twentieth  centur}'-  is  to  actualize  as  no  other 
has  ever  more  than  dreamed  of  doing.  Drummond  is 
no  dreamer.  He  is  a  practical  worker  for  his  own 
generation,  but  in  his  The  City  withozit  a  Church  he 
has  given  the  very  heart  of  the  thought  with  which 
this  work  ends  and  begins  ;  that  the  life  of  man  per- 
petually enlarges  its  scope  and  plan,  and  that  from  the 
individual  the  passage  must  forever  be  to  the  general, 
the  individual  finding  his  best  development  where  the 
general  welfare  is  the  general  concern. 

The  household,  standing  nearest  to  the  bodj^,  lowest 
or  highest  as  we  may  choose  to  consider  it,  is  thus  es- 
sentially limited  in  many  w^ays  ;  rightly  and  nobly  lim- 
ited, in  waj^s  which  work  no  more  restriction  than  do 
our  bodily  limits.  But  the  household  economy,  being 
in  its  nature  part  of  the  social  organism,  economy, 
should  not  be  limited  by  the  house.  The  cradle  of  in- 
dustry must  not  seek  to  retain  industry  in  its  cradle, 
and  that  is  precisely  what  our  mistaken  idea  of  house- 


232  Household  Economics, 

hold  economy  does  to-day.  It  is  surcharged  with 
functional  activity  which  does  not  belong  there,  which 
has  long  since  reached  a  stage  of  development  demand- 
ing far  wider,  deeper,  and  more  scientific  administra- 
tion and  execution  than  is  possible  in  the  private  home. 

There  was  once  in  the  world  but  one  place  of  living — 
the  home.  In  it  were  all  things  done  and  enjoyed.  It 
produced  what  it  consumed,  and  consumed  what  it 
produced.  Long  ago  that  stage  ended.  There  are  now 
in  the  world  two  places  of  living  for  the  larger  part  of 
civilized  humanity — the  home  and  the  shop.  The 
shop  makes  what  the  home  takes.  All  our  deepest  and 
widest  and  subtlest  ranges  of  mechanical  production, 
bridges,  ships,  railroads,  vast  mills,  founderies,  stores, 
are  all  to  keep  in  motion  activities  which  culminate  in 
home  consumption. 

The  shop  produces  and  the  home  consumes.  In  this 
it  still  stands  for  the  primal  home  idea  ;  the  thought  in 
that  first  beginning  of  home  when  it  was  but  a  hole  in 
the  ground  to  eat  and  sleep  and  hide  in.  All  the 
beauty  and  sanctity  and  power  of  the  home  follow  on 
this  primal  thought  of  security,  shelter  ;  a  place  in 
which  to  take  food  and  rest,  and  gather  strength  for 
outside  use. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  the  modern  home  fails  of  its 
main  function,  in  that  it  persists  in  combining  home 
and  shop.  Any  form  of  persistent  industry  is  foreign 
to  the  essential  idea  of  home,  the  place  of  rest.  But 
the  man's  home  to-day  is  the  woman's  shop  wherein 
she  perpetually  demonstrates  the  old  song  : 

**  A  man's  work  is  from  sun  to  sun, 
But  a  woman's  work  is  never  done." 

The  growth  of  household  industry  from  the  simple 


Organized  L  iving,  233 

consumption  of  meat  and  fruit  to  all  the  complicated 
bustle  of  the  kitchen,  calls  for  the  extension  of  that 
kitchen  industr}-  outside  the  home. 

Let  us  by  all  means  continue  to  eat  at  home.  To 
eat  together  under  the  shelter  of  one's  own  roof  is  still 
one  of  the  integral  parts  of  the  home  idea.  But  there 
is  no  more  need  for  the  immediate  presence  of  the 
cook  shop  than  for  the  immediate  presence  of  the 
butcher  shop,  the  flour  mill,  and  the  dairy. 

The  preparation  of  food  at  home  save  in  the  most 
limited  sense,  as  for  instance  the  use  of  the  chafing- 
dish  or  the  making  of  fresh  tea,  does  not  belong  to  the 
advanced  civilization  of  to-day.  It  belongs  to  the  era 
when  that  preparation  was  a  simple  matter,  easily 
within  the  pleasurable  exertion  of  the  family  itself. 
That  should  be  our  limit  still.  If  we  wish  to  prepare 
food  at  home,  its  preparation  should  not  require  more 
than  an  hour  of  the  time  and  a  tiny  portion  of  the 
vital  force  of  the  family.  If  it  is  otherwise,  then  we 
are  expending  high  forces  on  low  functions  ;  a  process 
as  wasteful  to  the  woman  who  performs  it  as  if  all  our 
ranks  of  world  up-lifting  men  spent  their  forces  in  the 
low  functions  of  self-defence  and  self-support. 

We  have  organized  our  defensive  function  into  the 
honorable  specialization  of  military  and  civil  service. 
We  have  organized  our  self-support  into  all  the  com- 
plex activities  of  farmer,  grazier,  fisherman,  butcher, 
orchardist,  and  so  on,  with  the  manifold  distribution 
of  their  supplies. 

This  is  in  the  man's  world.  In  the  woman's  world 
no  organization  has  been  allowed.  Man  has  not  for- 
bidden it,  but  woman  has  not  seen  its  advantages,  and 
being  conserver  rather  than  originator,  has  seldom  gone 
beyond  tradition.    Her  world,  then,  in  which  she  must 


234  Household  Economics. 

live  and  work,  remains  inorganic,  detached,  undevel- 
oped ;  a  survival  of  past  ages. 

It  is  this  underlying  condition  which  makes  one  of 
the  deeper  reasons  why  it  is  so  hard  to  "  keep  the  boys 
at  home."  Consider  the  man's  world  as  compared 
with  the  woman's.  In  the  developed  industries,  the 
extra-domestic  industries,  every  man  has  his  kind  of 
work  and  does  it,  and  all  kinds  of  work  are  inter- 
related. Friction  and  confusion  are  largely  eliminated. 
Everyone  is  compelled  by  the  nature  of  his  position 
to  "mind  his  own  business,"  and  there  is  room  for 
expansion  and  the  noble  sense  of  mutual  usefulness. 

In  the  undeveloped  domestic  industries,  one  untrained 
woman  tries  to  work  at  a  dozen  trades  at  once,  and,  if 
she  is  the  mother  too,  at  a  constant  sacrifice  of  her 
highest  function.  The  growing  boy  as  he  begins  to 
enter  manhood  feels  this  difference  without  under- 
standing it ;  and  in  his  scorn  of  home  life  and  desire  to 
escape  from  its  restrictions,  vaguely  voices  his  under- 
lying consciousness  of  the  lamentable  division  be- 
tween "  the  home  "  and  "  the  world." 

The  home  is  a  most  essential  part  of  the  world, 
not  a  different  thing,  yet  our  thought  and  modes  of 
expression  would  seem  to  make  it  so.  Its  present 
separation,  with  all  the  evil  consequences  to  both,  is 
due  to  the  arrested  development  of  our  household 
economy.  Present  with  its  bodily  form  ;  apparently 
moving  with  the  age,  the  household  carries  within  it 
conditions  so  primitive  that  the  true  growth  of  social 
life  is  retarded  at  ever}^  step. 

The  typical  modern  household  presents  both  survi- 
vals and  rudiments.  Old  and  sturdy  survivals ;  care- 
fully maintained,  flourishing  rudiments,  carefully  cut 
down  to  the  general  level  of  this  most  anomalous  and 


Organized  L  wing,  235 

singular  organism,  half  fossil  and  half  sprout.  Small 
wonder  then  that  the  family,  over  whose  future  spec- 
ulation is  incessantly  at  work,  the  family,  which  is  the 
soul  of  the  household  body,  is  perturbed  and  pained, 
shocked,  injured,  at  times  destroyed.  A  large  cause 
for  the  rising  sea  of  family  trouble  which  forms  half 
the  world's  misery  comes,  not  from  the  wicked  world 
outside,  but  from  within  the  sheltering  walls  of  the 
home  we  love  so  well  and  understand  so  ill. 

To  live  in  two  kinds  of  life  at  once  ;  to  spend  one's 
days  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  one's  nights  in 
the  twelfth  ;  to  come  home  from  the  stress  and  press 
of  one's  fractional  share  in  the  widely  differentiated 
activities  of  the  world  to  one's  full  half  of  the  un- 
differentiated and  discordant  activities  of  the  home 
— this  makes  life  harder  for  man  than  it  has  any 
right  to  be,  than  it  needs  to  be,  and  so  limits  both 
his  growth  and  his  usefulness. 

And  for  the  woman  to  live  only  in  one  kind  of  life 
and  that  of  a  prehistoric  nature  ;  not  to  have  any  share 
at  all  in  the  activities  of  the  age  she  lives  in  ;  to  force 
her  present-day  powers  to  the  steady  performance  of 
past-day  tasks  ;  what  for  her  ?  She  lives  in  touch  with 
the  vivid  life  of  the  modern  world,  yet  her  work  carries 
the  burdens  of  the  past,  and  her  growth  and  usefulness 
are  not  only  checked  but  distorted. 

For  this  inequality  no  man  can  be  held  responsible. 
One  of  our  deepest  thinkers,  Lester  F.  Ward,  has 
written  what  may  stand  as  summary  of  the  whole 
condition.  Studying  the  conditions  governing  the  life 
of  woman  as  a  whole,  he  decides  : 

*'  If  there  is  an  evil  in  the  world  for  which  nobody  is  to  blame, 
it  is  the  inequality  of  the  sexes.  If  there  is  an  illustration  of 
the  victims  of  an  injurious  system  countenancing  and  upholding 


236  Household  Econom  ics. 

that  system,  it  exists  in  the  case  of  women  and  the  system  which 
holds  them  down.  The  mere  handful  of  protestors  who  have 
become  aroused  within  the  past  few  years  to  a  vague  sense  of  their 
true  condition,  is  but  the  very  embryo  of  the  movement  which 
would  be  required  to  accomplish  the  emancipation  of  women." 

It  is  not  so  much  experience  as  philosophy  which  is 
agitating  the  question.  The  victims  of  the  system  are 
usually  silent,  or,  if  they  speak,  it  is  but  the  bitter 
language  of  discontent,  unsupported  by  the  philosophic 
analysis  of  the  subject,  which  can  alone  give  weight  to 
their  utterances.  The  greatest  champions  of  social 
reform  are,  and  always  will  be,  those  who  possess  the 
capacity  to  grasp  great  social  truths  and  an  insight  into 
human  nature  and  the  causes  of  social  phenomena  deep 
enough  to  kindle  a  genuine  sympathy  and  a  sound, 
rational  philanthropy. 

**  This  phenomenon,  like  all  others,  is  the  result  of  causes  oper- 
ating through  innumerable  ages,  and  for  which  there  is  no  more 
responsibility  than  there  is  for  the  physical  transformations 
which  species  undergo  from  the  operation  of  similar  causes 
during  still  more  immense  periods.  Although  the  results  may 
be  bad  and  entail  evil  upon  society,  though  they  be  irrational, 
absurd  and  pernicious,  they  are  none  the  less  due  to  causes 
sufficient  in  their  time  to  produce  them,  and  their  genesis  or 
true  explanation,  though  perhaps  too  obscure  for  man  ever  to 
unfold,  would  still  be  traceable  to  their  earliest  origin  if  all  the 
circumstances  could  be  known. 

"  A  state  of  society  if  it  be  bad  for  one  class  is  bad  for  all. 
Woman  is  scarcely  a  greater  sufferer  from  her  condition  than 
man  is,  and  there  is,  therefore,  nothing  either  improper  or 
inexplicable  in  man's  espousing  the  cause  of  woman's  inde- 
pendence. The  freedom  of  woman  will  be  the  ennoblement 
of  man.  The  equality  of  the  sexes  will  be  the  regeneration  of 
humanity.  Civilization  demands  this  revolution.  It  stands  in 
the  greatest  need  of  the  help  which  the  female  sex  alone  can 
vouchsafe.  Woman  is  half  of  mankind.  Civilization  and  prog- 
ress have  hitherto  been  carried  forward  by  the  male  half  alone. 


Organized  Living,  237 

Labor  and  production  are  now  suffering  from  the  same  cause. 
It  is  high  time  that  all  the  forces  of  society  were  brought  into 
action,  and  it  is  especially  necessary  that  those  vast  complemen- 
tary forces  which  woman  alone  can  wield,  be  given  free  rein,  and 
the  whole  machinery  of  society  be  set  into  full  and  harmonious 
operation."  ' 

Bear  in  mind  always  that  this  is  no  protest  against 
home  duties.  They  are  not  only  important,  essential, 
but  lovely  and  noble  in  their  place.  My  work  would 
be  utterl}^  lost  if  I  have  failed  to  show  the  magnitude  and 
value  of  these  functions,  but  it  must  be  plain  that  their 
degree  of  development  and  method  of  performance  are 
below  the  present  grade  of  civilization. 

This  in  the  deeper  and  more  scientific  sense  is  the 
status  of  Household  Economy  to-day.  Itself  of  enor- 
mous importance,  its  methods  are  so  defective  as  to 
constitute  a  steady  check  on  progress.  For  the  better 
understanding  of  the  subject,  the  course  these  lectures 
should  precede  and  which  they  outline  is  mapped  out. 

By  a  wide  study  of  the  existing  condition  and  its 
historic  forerunners,  we  shall  be  able  at  least  to  know 
why,  in  all  this  smooth  and  rushing  stream  of  progress, 
the  household  wheels  still  creak  so  noisily  and  turn  so 
hard.  It  is  as  though  some  primeval  ox-cart  were 
brought  in  to  connect  with  the  railroad  system,  or  the 
current  of  trans-continental  travel  left  its  vestibuled 
trains  to  ford  some  river  on  the  way. 

A  vast  amount  of  the  weakness,  weariness,  and 
nervous  prostration  of  our  women  is  due  to  this  under- 
lying cause.  It  is  not  the  time  they  spend  that  hurts 
them  nor  the  special  strength  involved.  It  is  that  the 
modem  brain,  enlarged  and  subdivided,  focused  on 
great  issues  and  great  processes,  has  to  put  itself  back 

^  Dynamic  Sociology  hy  Lester  F.  Ward.  vol.  i.,  pp.  656-57. 


238  Household  Economics, 

into  the  lenses  of  a  thousand  centuries  ago.  It  is  the 
weight  of  all  the  ages  that  pulls  our  women  down — it 
is  the  incongruous  pressure  and  presence  of  fossil 
customs — they  break  utterly  and  die  all  unknowing 
under  the  strain  of  contending  eras. 

The  effect  of  this  condition  upon  the  progress  of  the 
world  is  felt  in  two  ways.  One  is  through  the  confus- 
ing and  retarding  effect  of  these  left-over  household 
industries  and  methods  on  our  social  industries  and 
methods.  The  other  is  through  the  effect  on  the  brain 
of  our  women,  our  mothers,  and  through  them  on  the 
brain  of  the  race. 

If  our  household  industries  were  in  the  hands  of  men, 
their  deteriorating  racial  effect  would  be  largely  re- 
duced. On  the  other  hand,  if  our  household  industries 
were  in  the  hands  of  men,  they  would  not  remain  for 
a  week  in  their  present  amorphous  and  disordered 
condition. 

It  is  because  they  have  remained  in  the  hands  of 
women  and  in  the  limits  of  the  home,  and  because  of 
the  sociological  position  of  womankind,  a  position  as 
to  which  these  pages  can  have  but  the  word  already 
quoted  from  Dynamic  Sociology,  but  which  has  had 
constant  effect  on  household  economy,  that  the  case  is 
as  it  is. 

That  Household  Economics  and  progress  are  in 
closest  relation  must  be  at  least  indicated  by  all  that 
has  gone  before.  The  fact  we  must  face  and  consider 
steadily  is  that  the  present  condition  of  household 
economy  tends  to  produce  and  develop  the  kind  of 
brain  which  can  contentedly  and  effectively  leap  from 
one  occupation  to  another  many  times  a  day  ;  and 
occupations  differing  not  only  in  kind  but  in  degree. 

Where  in  the  departments  of  a  large  business  the 


Orga n ized  L iving,  239 

various  employees  are  given  tasks  rigidly  defined,  thus 
carefully  preserving  the  brain  adjustment  necessary 
to  each  phase  of  activity — it  being  a  business  maxim 
never  to  put  a  twenty-dollar  man  to  do  a  ten-dollar 
man's  work, — the  departments  of  housekeeping  in  its 
average  condition  require  of  one  woman  the  widest 
and  most  subtle  administrative  ability,  the  most  labo- 
rious and  disconnected  executive  ability. 

These  qualities  are  diametrically  opposed.  The 
ability  to  patiently  perform  an  endless  repetition  of 
minutety  differentiated  tasks,  like,  for  instance,  the 
washing  of  dishes ;  and  the  ability  to  keep  all  the 
running  machinery  of  a  household  in  order  and  all  of 
its  varied  supplies  in  constant  renewal  according  to  the 
dictates  of  economy  on  the  one  side,  and  all  the  con- 
flicting tastes  of  the  family  on  the  other, — these  two 
orders  of  ability  are  not  to  be  found  together. 

The  better  able  the  brain  is  to  content  itself  with 
disconnected  tasks  and  details,  the  less  able  it  is  to 
manage  connected  generalities. 

To  insist  on  the  two  and  yet  maintain  life,  provides 
us  with  a  low  order  of  w^oman  who  can  do  all  these 
things  fairly  well,  but  no  one  of  them  well  enough  to 
realize  how  defective  the  others  are. 

The  average  "capable"  woman,  what  the  New 
England  Yankee  knows  as  * '  a  woman  of  faculty, ' '  is 
like  one  of  those  7nidtum  i7i  parvo  pocket-knives  includ- 
ing in  itself  a  multitude  of  tools  not  one  of  them  first 
class.  Greatness  demands  specialization.  The  woman 
thus  produced  to  us  is  the  "  market  "  for  most  of  the 
products  of  the  world,  the  judge  and  critic  of  the 
liberal  arts  ;  the  patron  of  much  of  the  fine  arts, 
sciences,  and  professions.  As  she  is  must  be  largely 
those  who  minister  to  her. 


240  Household  Economics. 

This  compressed  and  many-sided  yet  disconnected 
and  undeveloped  brain  she  transmits  to  all  the  world  ; 
to  the  more  active  factors  in  our  civilization  ;  to  the 
men  who  make  our  books,  our  pictures,  and  our  laws. 

The  smallness  and  narrowness,  the  lack  of  true 
public  spirit,  the  penny  wdse  and  pound  foolish  tenden- 
cies of  the  popular  mind,  come  largely  from  the  early 
and  unceasing  influence  of  our  arrested  development 
in  household  economy. 

A  matter  more  seriously  important  could  hardly  pre- 
sent itself  to  the  students  of  sociology.  Our  social 
economy  is  largely  conditioned  upon  the  existing 
quality  of  the  people  who  administer  it ;  but  here  is 
the  more  intimate  field  of  Household  Economics 
directly  affecting  the  quality  of  the  people. 

In  its  physical  attributes  of  warmth  and  shelter, 
light,  air,  water,  and  food,  Household  Economy  moulds 
the  bodies  of  the  race.  Through  its  logical  construc- 
tion and  beautiful  decoration,  and  the  logical  and  beau- 
tiful performance  of  its  essential  functions,  or  their 
opposites,  it  moulds  the  mind  of  the  race.  Through 
the  nature  and  condition  of  the  family  itself,  so  largely 
modified  by  the  economy  of  the  household,  it  moulds 
the  souls  of  the  race. 

Home  influence  is  a  larger  thing  than  the  most 
ecstatic  sentimentalist  has  ever  claimed  for  it.  It 
influences  the  babe  unborn  ;  the  child  absolutely,  in 
the  years  which  count  most  in  the  formation  of  charac- 
ter and  tendencies  ;  the  youth  and  the  adult  through 
every  step  of  the  long  journey. 

The  influence  of  our  defective  Household  Economy 
on  children  is,  in  itself,  a  study  for  years.  From  this 
personal  effect,  on  and  up  into  the  social  influence  of 
the  lines  thus  formed  ;  the  constant  modification  of  all 


Organized  Living.  241 

life  by  the  interaction  of  persons  every  one  of  whom 
IS  a  product  of  the  home  ;  the  steady  outpour  upon 
life  of  the  thought  and  feeling  generated  by  the  place 
where  we  live  ;  the  stream  of  art  and  industries,  all 
rising  in  the  home  and  pouring  out  to  flood  the  world  ; 
— this  it  is  which  makes  the  household,  now  as  always, 
the  matrix  of  civilization.  Civilization  was  born  from 
the  home.  From  the  home  it  is  renewed,  and  out  of 
the  home  must  come  the  influence  that  will  make,  not 
the  farce  we  find  it  at  many  points  to-day,  but  the  en- 
lightener  and  uplifter  of  all  mankind. 

This  is  the  necessity,  and  yet  every  thinking  woman, 
above  all,  any  woman  who  has  dealt  with  her  own  sex 
as  workers  and  in  large  numbers,  recognizes  the  fact 
that  not  only  among  the  least  educated  and  cultivated 
but  in  as  great  or  greater  degree  among  the  comfort- 
able, well-to-do  classes,  exists  a  spirit  that  one  is 
tempted  to  name  organized  obstruction. 

Women  in  clubs  and  councils,  and  these  represent 

the  largest  intelligence  and  training,  are  very  apt  to 

congratulate  each   other   in   periodical  summaries   of 

woman's  progress  that  in  all  fields  an  open  way  seems 

to  lie  before   her.     Four  hundred   trades   are  at  her 

option  and  artistic  and  professional  life  receives  each 

year  a  larger  and  larger  number  of  recruits.     Now 

and  then  comes  a  note  of  sorrow  and  dismay  at  the 

disabilities  that  still  hedge  about  the  woman  in  trades. 

Yet  at  this  point,  where  reason  would  seem  to  demand 

a  question,  nobody  goes  back  of  the  present  era  and 

asks  how  it  is  that  for  thousands   of  years   she  has 

allowed  every  industry  which  she  originated  to  pass 

into  the  hands   of  men.     So   far   as   invention  has  a 

history,  it  is  always  the  man  who  forces  the  woman 

to  give  up  her  heav}^  stones  for  grinding  and  try  the 
16 


242  Household  Economics, 

mill ;  to  use  an  improved  loom  ;  to  accept  the  cook- 
stove  instead  of  the  open  fire  and  its  back-breaking 
system  of  cranes  and  pots  ;  the  sewing-machine  instead 
of  the  needle — in  short,  all  modern  conveniences. 

What  woman  has  done  with  the  sewing-machine 
she  has  done  with  most  inventions  for  her  benefit — 
turned  them  into  new  instruments  of  torture.  The 
sewing-machine  has  enabled  her  to  put  a  hundred 
tucks  where  once  she  put  three,  and  every  garment 
is  made  to  hold  a  wilderness  of  stitching.  Complica- 
tion and  always  more  and  more  complication  has 
become  the  order  of  living,  and  as  if  in  mockery,  labor- 
saving  inventions  crowd  our  houses  and  demand  a  new 
form  of  skilled  labor  to  take  care  of  them. 

From  the  beginning  of  homes  or  workshops  women 
have  steadfastl}^  labored  at  complication  and  men  at 
simplification.  The  fact  that  a  man  is  successful  in 
business  means  that  he  knows  how  to  adapt  means  to 
ends.  His  ofiice  is  a  model  of  compactness  ;  every- 
thing at  hand  that  can  make  work  swift  and  easy. 

In  every  trade,  the  worker,  as  dentist  or  carpenter, 
has  his  tools  in  perfect  order  and  arranged  close  at  hand 
so  that  every  motion  will  tell.  The  kitchen  of  a  dining- 
car  or  of  a  great  ocean  liner  is  a  model  of  condensed 
convenience.  And  while  the  man  w^orker  in  these  lines 
is  condensing  his  space  and  making  everj^  step  and 
stroke  tell,  the  woman  worker  in  the  same  fields  has 
only  in  scattered  instances  planned  to  the  same  end, 
but  goes  on  in  the  same  old  helter-skelter  fashion. 

Day  by  day  life  complicates.  The  daily  paper  brings 
the  ends  of  the  earth  to  our  door.  More  w^ork  to  be 
done,  less  and  less  time  to  do  it  in,  since  other  work 
waits  and  calls.  Complexity  is  the  law^  of  being  for 
this  complex  creature  w^e  call  man,  nor  is  a  return  to 


Organized  Living,  243 

primitive  simplicity  either  possible  or  desirable  save  at 
certaiu  points.  Men  have  found  out  many  inventions. 
They  have  not  yet  found  out  how  to  make  their  uses  a 
unit,  and  let  all  share  the  benefit  alike. 

Modern  housekeeping  represents  an  enormous  waste 
of  force,  waste  not  only  in  expenditure  but  in  results. 
Each  kitchen  has  its  Moloch  in  the  cook-stove,  before 
which  "  a  passing  train  of  hired  girls"  incessantly  do 
homage.  The  coal  that  cooks  for  six  could  as  well 
cook  for  sixty.  The  anguish  of  the  family  wash  day, 
the  weekly  martyrdom  of  the  housekeeper,  has  no 
more  place  under  a  civilized  roof  than  the  weaving  of 
cloth  or  the  salting  and  curing  of  meats.  For  the  poor 
it  is  an  even  more  wasteful  system  since  they  must  buy 
in  quantities  so  small  that  they  pay  double  and  treble 
the  sum  the  article  is  worth. 

* '  We  have  no  time  for  anything  !  "  is  the  cry  of  all 
women,  yet  not  one  is  willing  to  submit  to  the  personal 
trouble  and  possible  discomfort  involved  in  a  new  ex- 
periment or  to  seek  to  work  it  out  for  the  world,  as  it 
must  be  worked  out. 

It  is  not  in  m}^  opinion  co-operation  that  is  required 
since  families  are  intended  to  live  their  own  lives,  a 
sufficiently  difficult  operation  as  it  is.  But  combination 
in  a  business  sense  and  with  business  methods  could 
reconstruct  the  housekeeping  of  a  community.  It  is 
time  that  this  business  of  cooking  and  cleaning  for 
humanity  should  be  transferred  to  the  hands  of  experts. 
The  w^oman  need  have  no  lack  of  occupation,  for  she 
can  find  it  in  genuinely  caring  for  her  family,  teaching 
and  training  as  to-day  she  cannot.  As  to  cooking,  the 
kind  which  too  many  of  us  have  been  made  to  know 
is  warranted  to  kill  and  not  to  cure. 

Given  a  perfectly  managed,  carefully  administered 


244  Household  Economics, 

kitchen  and  laundry  for  every  block  of  houses  in  the 
city  or  town,  and  no  matter  on  how  simple  a  scale,  it 
means  not  only  more  time  for  the  higher  aspects  of  liv- 
ing, but  more  money  to  spend  in  real  things.  Living, 
as  we  get  it  in  our  isolated,  individual  system,  is  organ- 
ized waste  and  destruction,  and  women  who  oppose  or 
refuse  to  even  listen  to  calm  and  rational  discussion  as 
to  better  possibilities,  what  are  they  but  organized 
obstruction  ? 

All  this  means  time,  and  for  the  present  we  must  do 
what  we  can.  Naturally  we  face  at  once  the  question 
of  education,  relying  upon  that  to  undo  all  the  evils 
brought  about  by  lack  of  knowledge.  But  here  again, 
education  and  mental  training  are  wide  apart,  and  this 
every  true  teacher  knows.  A  child  may  pass  through 
every  grade  of  the  public  school  yet  emerge  untaught 
and  untrained  for  any  real  issue  of  real  life. 

Do  I  want  then  that  Household  Economics  should  be 
part  of  all  school  and  college  training  ?  Never  in  the 
mere  apprentice  sense.  The  trade  school  and  appren- 
tice idea,  that  of  going  through  all  the  steps  every  day 
mechanically  till  the  learner  cannot  help  doing  them 
right,  hold  the  old  thought  of  the  work  to  be  done. 
Science  and  the  spirit  of  the  age  have  taught  new  and 
better  methods.  The  principles  of  all  trades,  i.e.  the 
fundamental  laws  of  matter  and  form,  are  taught  in  a 
few  months  with  just  enough  practice  to  illustrate  the 
principles. 

Mrs.  Ellen  H.  Richards,  known  as  chemist  and  one 
of  the  highest  authorities  in  the  country  on  all  ques- 
tions of  Household  Economics,  sums  up  the  subject  as 
compactly  and  briefly  as  it  can  be  done. 

"  First,  the  subject  should  be  put  into  the  college 
curriculum  on  a  par  with  the  other  sciences,  and  as  a 


Organized  Living,  245 

summing  up  of  all  the  science  teaching  of  the  course, 
for  chemistry,  physics,  physiology,  biology,  and  espe- 
cially bacteriology,  are  all  only  the  stepping-stones  to 
sanitary  science. 

* '  Therefore,  in  the  j  unior  or  senior  year,  after  the  stu- 
dent has  a  good  groundwork  of  these  sciences,  there 
should  be  given  a  course  of  at  least  two  lectures  a  week, 
and  four  hours  of  practical  work. ' ' 

Such  lectures  as  are  suggested  the  present  volume 
has  covered  as  far  as  possible.  The  practical  work  to 
be  done  should  include  : 

*'  I.  Visits  to  homes  where  the  housekeeper  has  put  in  practice 
some  or  all  of  the  theories  of  modern  sanitary  and  economic 
living. 

"2.  Visits  of  inspection  accompanied  by  the  instructor,  to 
houses  in  process  of  construction,  of  good  and  bad  types,  both 
old  and  new. 

"  3.  Conferences  with  successful  and  progressive  house- 
keepers. 

*'  4.  Practical  work  and  original  investigation  in  the  labor- 
atory of  sanitary  chemistry." 

Four  reasons  are  given,  a  square  so  solid  and  com- 
prehensive that  it  may  well  serve  as  foundation  for  all 
future  building, 

**  First,  and  in  an  educational  point  of  view  foremost,  to 
broaden  the  ideas  of  life  with  which  the  young  woman  leaves 
college,  to  bring  her  in  touch  with  the  great  problems  which 
press  more  closely  each  year. 

"  Second,  to  secure  a  solid  basis  for  improvement.  Those  of 
us  who  have  had  a  hand  in  reforms  know  how  much  work  is 
wasted  for  want  of  knowing  what  has  been  already  done. 

*'  Third,  to  replace  timidity  by  confidence.  The  young  house- 
wife, who,  knowing  her  own  limitations,  is  afraid  of  her  house 
and  her  servants,  is  likely  to  come  to  grief  because  of  the  ner- 
vous strain  she  must  constantly  bear,  and  I  believe  that  the 
larger  part  of  our  domestic  trials  arise  from  the  irritability  and 


246  Household  Economics. 

exactions  of  both  parties,  due  to  this  electrical  condition  of  the 
nervous  atmosphere  of  the  house. 

**  Fourth,  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  trained  womenin  all  sec- 
tions of  the  country ;  for  all  great  reforms  need  many-sided  help." 

This  is  the  intermediate  stage ;  the  stage  that  will 
train  women  to  a  power  of  judgment  that  will  open  the 
door  for  the  larger  handling  of  every  question  involved. 
It  is  not  more  flats,  more  boarding-houses,  more  clubs, 
more  hotels  that  we  require  or  that  the  future  will  see. 
Reaching  from  the  limitation  of  the  home,  w^e  have 
tried  these  all  and  know  if  we  think  at  all  that  they  are 
but  compromise.     The  real  thing  is  yet  to  come. 

There  is  a  story  of  Asa  Gra}^,  one  of  our  most  dis- 
tinguished botanists,  to  whom  a  butterfly  of  unknown 
and  undiscoverable  species  was  sent  who,  after  care- 
ful examination,  wrote  that  its  characteristics  all  indi- 
cated a  habitat  in  which  such  and  such  plants  would 
be  found.  In  short  that  whether  anybody  knew  or  not 
it  must  have  come  from  a  certain  portion  of  Brazil.  In 
process  of  time,  further  investigation  showed  that  it 
had  come  from  precisel}^  this  region.  The  new  thought 
of  the  home  to  come  is  in  like  fashion  a  stranger,  5-et 
analysis  gives  us  its  native  dwelling-place  no  less  than 
the  certainty  that  it  is  a  real  creation.  The  ideal  of 
one  generation  is  the  working  factor  of  the  next.  The 
ideal  is  the  only  real.  The  timid  conservative  shrinks 
back  in  terror  and  declares  that  only  destruction  lies  in 
the  thought  of  any  change.  Yet  not  destruction  but 
reconstruction  is  the  thought. 

A  stronger  home  !  That  is  what  we  want.  That  is 
what  we  must  have.  There  are  hundreds  of  homes 
where  love  is  law  and  wisdom  chief  ruler,  and  the 
child  that  is  born  into  them  is  sure  of  all  that  the  high- 
est  thought   can   secure   for  him   in  body,   soul,   and 


Organized  Living,  247 

spirit.  But  for  the  unnumbered  thousands  where  love 
is  not  and  wisdom  has  never  entered  ! — what  shall  we 
do  with  them  ? 

Only  a  tieatise  on  education  could  answer  this  ques- 
tion, but  there  is  one  thought  for  the  home  itself.  As 
the  bod}^  in  w^hich  we  live  is  the  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  often  defiled  but  none  the  less  temple,  so  it  is 
also  true  that  the  same  power  dwells  with  us  in  so 
literal  a  fashion  that  every  stone  and  rafter,  every  table- 
spoon and  paper  scrap,  bears  stamp  and  signature  to 
eyes  that  read  aright :  "  The  house  in  which  we  live  is 
a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands." 

This  is  the  stronger  home,  and  in  that  home  may 
and  must  be  seen  all  graces  and  gentleness  in  thought 
and  word  that  make  the  happy  illumination  which,  on 
the  inside  of  the  house,  corresponds  to  morning  sun- 
light outside,  falling  on  quiet  dewy  fields.  Out  of 
such  homes  neither  knaves  in  politics  nor  tyrants  and 
schemers  in  business  strife  and  competition  can  ever 
come.  With  such  homes,  the  golden  age  already 
dawning  as  the  new  century  opens  hastens  its  steps. 
The  stronger  home  is  here. 

And  for  the  woman  in  that  home  ; — 

"  A  woman,  in  so  far  as  she  beholdeth 

Her  one  Beloved's  face  ; 
A  mother, — with  a  great  heart  that  enfoldeth 

The  children  of  the  race  ; 
A  body  free  and  strong,  with  that  high  beauty 

That  comes  of  perfect  use  is  built  thereof ; 
A  mind  where  reason  rulelh  over  duty, 

And  Justice  reigns  with  Love  ; 
A  self-poised,  royal  soul,  brave,  wise,  and  lender, 

No  longer  blind  and  dumb  ; 
A  human  being  of  an  unknown  splendor, 

Is  she  who  is  to  come." 


248  Household  Economics, 

BIBIylOGRAPHY   AND   RE^FERKNCKS. 

Man  and  Woman,  by  Havelock  Ellis. 

The  Evolution  of  Marriage,  by  C.  H.  Letourneau. 

Co-operation,  by  Mrs.  C.  L.  Pierce. 

England' s  Ideal  and  Other  Papers  on  Social  Subjects,  by  Edward 

Carpenter  ;  Essay  on  "  Simplification  of  Living." 
Civilization,  its  Cause  and  Cure,  by  Edward  Carpenter  (Chapter 

on  "  Custom.") 
The  Emancipation  of  the  Family,  by  Mona  Caird. 
Woman  under  Mo Jtasticism,  by  Lena  Eckstein. 
Marriage,  by  Edward  Carpenter. 
**  The  New  Woman  and  her  Duties,"  by  Clare  de  Grafenried, 

Popular  Science  Monthly,  September,  1896. 
Chemistry  of    Wheat  Flour  a7id    Bread,  and  Technology  of 

Bread  Making,  by  "Wm.  Jago. 
Chemistry  and  Economy  of  Food,  by  W.  O.  Atwater,  U.  S. 

Dep't  of  Agriculture,  Bulletin  21,  1895. 
Food.      Manuals  of  Health,  by  Albert  J.  Bernays. 
Food  and  its  Functions,  by  James  Knight. 
Fifty  Soups,  Salads^  Breakfast  Dainties,  by  Thomas  J.  Murray. 


APPENDIX. 


SO  great  is  the  demand  for  a  simple  and  practical  course  of 
Club  work  in  Household  Bconomics,  that  it  seems  wise 
to  add  to  the  present  volume,  two  programmes  which 
have  been  tested  in  the  clubs  for  which  they  were  prepared. 
Dr.  Mary  Green  is  a  well-known  physician,  whose  book  on  the 
Foods  of  the  World  is  given  in  the  bibliography  of  the  present 
volume,  and  Mrs.  Watson  is  valued  authority  in  the  National 
Household  Economic  Association.  The  syllabus  of  the  course 
of  lectures  by  Professor  Allen,  of  Armour  Institute,  has  also 
been  used  by  leaders  of  sections  for  study  in  these  directions, 
who  have  chosen  the  points  appealing  most  strongly  to  their 
special  needs. 

In  addition  to  these,  is  given  the  prospectus  and  constitution 
of  the  Chicago  Household  Economic  Society,  prepared  by 
Mrs.  Stetson  and  myself,  and  compressing  into  small  space,  the 
need  and  purpose  of  the  work  inaugurated  by  the  National  As- 
sociation, under  the  leadership  of  Mrs.  Laura  Wilkinson,  its 
president  till  1896,  when  her  place  was  filled  by  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Boynton  Harbert.  The  Association  has  branches  at  many 
points,  the  most  notable  work  being  done  in  Philadelphia  and 
Syracuse,  though  Boston  leads  in  the  matter  of  dietaries  for 
schools,  and  the  furnishing  of  carefully-prepared  lunches  for 
their  pupils,  the  leader  and  authority  at  all  points  being  Mrs. 
Ellen  H.  Richards  of  the  Boston  Institute  of  Technology. 

A  summary  of  the  work  of  Clubs  has  been  made  by  Mrs. 
Estelle  M.  H.  Merrill,  in  an  article  in  the  American  Kitchen 
Magazine  as  follows  : 

The  Chicago  Woman's  Club  has  organized  a  study  class  in 
domestic    science,  and  done  a  year's  work  to  be  continued  in 

249 


250  Appendix, 

1897.  The  well  known  energy  and  ability  which  has  always 
characterized  the  admirable  work  done  by  this  famous  club 
makes  one  hope  great  things  from  this  class. 

The  Peoria  Woman's  Club  has  had,  during  the  past  season,  but 
one  paper  on  a  domestic  science  topic,  but  that  was  a  fine  one  by 
Mrs.  Alice  Peloubet  Norton  of  Newton  on  "  Scientific  Cooking." 
The  spirited  discussion  following  the  essay  showed  much  inter- 
est on  the  part  of  the  club  members. 

The  Worcester  (Mass.)  Woman's  Club  also  reports  one  lecture 
for  the  past  season  :  as  does  the  Thought  and  Work  Club  of 
Salem  (Mass.),  which  last  hopes  however  to  have  a  class  in  do- 
mestic science  next  season. 

The  Woburn  (Mass.)  Woman's  Club  was  divided  during  the 
past  year  into  seven  sections  or  departments,  one  of  which  is 
devoted  to  household  economics.  In  February  the  club  had 
the  pleasure  of  listening  to  one  of  Dr.  Mary  E.  Green's  valua- 
ble lectures,  her  topics  being  "Butter,  Milk,  and  Cheese," 

The  Secretary  of  the  Wellesley  Hills  (Mass.)  Woman's  Club 
writes:  "The  work  done  by  us  under  the  head  of  domestic 
science  has  been  small,  simply  preparatory  to  more  extensive 
work  next  year  we  hope.  A  cooking  class  was  formed,  and 
most  successfully  conducted  by  Miss  Charlotte  Wills,  assistant 
teacher  of  the  Boston  Cooking  School.  The  course  consisted 
of  eight  demonstration  lessons,  which  were  both  profitable  and 
enjoyable,  and  the  enthusiasm  shown  leads  us  to  anticipate  a 
more  active  future." 

The  work  accomplished  by  the  Springfield  (Mass.)  Woman's 
Club  in  introducing  cooking  into  the  public  schools  is  described 
elsewhere  in  this  issue  of  the  magazine. 

Although  the  Elgin  (Ills.)  Woman's  Club  is  devoting  all  its 
energies  at  present  to  building  a  new  hospital,  yet  it  reports  much 
good  work  done  recently  in  the  field  of  domestic  science,  includ- 
ing a  course  of  lessons  in  cookery  ;  courses  in  cooking,  domes- 
tic science  and  sewing  in  the  Elgin  Academy;  and  a  cook-book 
gotten  up  by  the  home  committee  of  the  club.  On  the  "Home" 
days  of  the  club  for  the  past  year,  the  topics  discussed  were 
"  Our  Pet  Economies  "  and  "The  Highest  Requisites  of  Hospi- 
tality," Among  the  topics  discussed  in  previous  seasons  were, 
"Home  Amusements,"  "The  Domestic  Question,"  "Co-opera- 


Appendix,  251 


tive  Kitchens,"  "Science  versus  Servants,"  "Effects  of  Club 
Life  on  the  Home,"  etc.  These  are  given  here  because  titles  or 
topics  are  often  so  suggestive  to  other  minds. 

The  St.  Johnsbury  (Vt.)  Woman's  Club  devoted  one  day  early 
last  fall  to  domestic  science.  Three  essays  were  given  by  club 
members  on  "The  Evolution  of  the  Kitchen,"  "  Co-operative 
Housekeeping  "  and  "  House  Sanitation." 

The  Alden  Club  of  Franklin  (Mass.),  on  its  domestic  science 
day,  discussed  the  work  of  the  National  Household  Economic 
Association,  the  New  England  Kitchen  (the  food  laboratory, 
not  the  magazine),  and  Cooking  Schools. 

The  New  Century  Club  of  Wilmington  (Delaware)  reports 
only  a  class  in  dressmaking,  taught  by  Miss  Alice  E.  Jastrow  of 
Drexel  Institute. 

Cleveland  Sorosis  has  standing  committees  on  "Home  Mak- 
ing as  a  Profession,"  and  "  Decoration  and  Architecture  of 
House  and  Home."  Mrs.  Martha  P.  Rose,  the  present  secre- 
tary and  former  president  of  the  club  writes  :  "  Our  president 
alway  emphasizes  the  fact  that  home  making  is  an  art  or  science 
as  great  as  any  profession,  and  should  be  honored  by  the  public 
in  like  manner."  Mrs.  Rose  modestly  refrains  from  quoting 
her  own  annual  address,  as  president,  when  she  spoke  of  this 
"Home  Making  a  Profession"  department,  showing  that 
drunkenness  could  be  prevented  in  many  cases  if  the  cooking 
was  hygienic  and  the  children  were  properly  cared  for.  "  We 
need  for  mothers  strong  and  well-balanced  minds.  Let  us 
make  the  art  of  house  and  home  keeping  a  profession  to  be 
learned,  and  when  acquired,  let  it  receive  the  homage  and  defer- 
ence given  to  the  profession  of  law  or  medicine." 

A  very  suggestive  letter  comes  from  St.  Louis.  The  writer, 
Mrs.  Mattie  E.  Fischell,  says:  "We  started  last  year,  in  our 
Wednesday  Club,  an  organization  known  as  the  '  Emergency 
Aid,'  to  do  active  philanthropic  work.  The  membership  in 
this  is  largely  composed  of  the  club  members,  but  is  not  limited 
to  that,  so  we  are  a  distinct  organization.  This  Emergency 
Aid,  in  order  to  further  its  new  plans,  has  recently  started  a 
public  kitchen,  modelled  after  the  New  England  Kitchen,  but 
called  by  us  the  '  Rumford  Kitchen.'  We  are  now  about  to 
organize  a  branch  of  the  National  Household  Economic  Asso- 


252  Appendix, 

ciatioD,  which  will  start  with  a  nucleus  of  the  club  members, 
and  then  enlist  others.  There  have  been  no  lectures  on  domes- 
tic work  or  science  before  the  club  during  the  past  year,  but 
our  science  section  devoted  some  time  to  household  sanitation, 
and  kindred  subjects,  last  year." 

The  Watertown  (Mass.)  Woman's  Club  is  very  young  yet, 
but  has  begun  in  the  right  way.  On  one  of  their  afternoons 
during  the  past  year,  three  members  gave  very  instructive  ac- 
counts of  experiences  in  keeping  house  in  foreign  lands, — Eng- 
land, France,  and  China. 

The  Cantabrigia  Club,  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  has  a  splendid 
record  in  domestic  science.  Their  "  Domestic  Science  Exhibit " 
of  last  season  is  still  talked  of ;  and  the  home  department  of 
the  present  year  arranged  a  very  notable  course  of  lectures, 
scientific  and  demonstrative  combined,  given  by  famous  experts. 
The  club  had  a  lecture  from  Dr.  Mary  E.  Green,  also,  during 
her  February  visit  to  Boston. 

The  president  of  the  Colonia  Club,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  writes  : 

"We  have  a  home  committee,  and  under  its  conduct  we 
had  an  instructive  meeting  last  February,  with  papers  on 
the  'Water  Supply  of  New  York  City  and  Brooklyn,'  and  a 
communication,  from  a  *  guest-member '  in  California,  on  the 
water  supply  of  the  southern  part  of  that  state. 

*'  We  had  also  a  paper  entitled  '  Contents  of  a  Boiler.'  This 
was  given  by  request  of  a  member  who  knew  of  a  physician 
who  gave  patients  water  drawn  through  the  hot-water  pipes 
from  an  ordinary  copper  boiler.  The  query  was,  '  Is  such  water 
wholesome  ?  '  " 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  interesting  missives 
received  in  reply  to  our  letter  of  inquiry,  came  from  the  corre- 
sponding secretary  of  the  Lansing  (Mich.)  Woman's  Club.  She 
writes  : 

"The  club  was  organized  in  1874  and  incorporated  in  1889. 
In  that  year  we  built  a  home  for  our  use.  We  have  in- 
dulged in  few  lectures  on  any  subject,  yet  we  have  not  neglected 
household  matters,  it  having  been  our  general  aim  to  devote 
one-half  of  each  weekly  session  to  practical  matters. 

"  In  February  of  the  present  year,  we  had  an  essay,  the  title 
of  which  was  *  Cookery  :  the  destiny  of  nations  depends  on  the 


Appendix,  253 

way  they  are  fed.'  Not  having  any  reliable  data  on  hand  relat- 
ing to  that  subject,  the  writer  substituted  an  account  of  the 
Chicago  experiment  in  feeding  students.  We  also  had  a  very 
good  paper  on  the  Atkinson  oven  ;  our  practical  women  joined 
the  essayist  in  approval  of  this  oven,  but  deprecated  the  idea 
of  using  kerosene  oil  in  washing  dishes  !  The  Rumford  Kitchen, 
too,  had  its  review.  We  were  later  entertained  with  a  pleasant 
talk  from  Dr.  Mary  E.  Green,  of  Charlotte,  Mich.,  in  behalf 
of  the  National  Household  Economic  Association. 

"Our  programme  for  the  next  year,  beginning  the  first  of 
October,  '95,  will  probably  contain  more  on  the  subject  of 
household  economy  than  it  has  hitherto  done.  It  is  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  committee." 

If  one  looks  over  these  reports  with  an  eye  to  the  localities 
represented  and  the  types  of  clubs  taking  up  this  work,  it  will 
be  seen  that  most  is  done  in  the  Western  clubs,  and  in  the  young 
progressive  clubs  of  the  East.  The  older  clubs  have,  for  the 
most  part,  remained  as  they  began — literary  clubs.  Thus  the 
New  England  Woman's  Club  does  no  work  of  this  sort  at  all ; 
and  Sorosis,  though  having  a  "  House  and  Home*'  day,  devotes 
it  usually  to  some  abstract  or  theoretical  matter,  rather  than  to 
practical  work.  The  Southern  clubs  also,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Woman's  Club  of  New  Orleans,  and  the  interesting  new 
Arundel  Club  of  Baltimore,  are  mostly  literary  clubs  only. 
The  Arundel,  under  the  expert  leadership  of  the  well-known 
Mrs.  Mary  Hinman  Abel,  is  doing  admirable  work. 


A  COURSE  IN  HOUSEHOLD  SCIENCE. 


BY   DR.  MARY   E.  GREKN, 


'*  Home-keeping  hearts  are  happiesV* 
September  8. 

1  The  building  of  the  home. 

2  From  cellar  to  attic. 

3  The  use  and  abuse  of  ornamentation. 

4  Home-keeping  vs.  house-keeping. 


254  Appendix, 

Heat  and  air  fashion  both  mind  and  body, — ArbuThnoT. 
September  22. 

1  Physiological  effects  of  light  and  heat. 

2  Different  methods  of  heating  the  home. 

3  Sunshine,  the  light  and  life  giver. 

4  Ventilation  and  plumbing. 

A  true  cook,  be  it  remembered,  is  an  artist. — Theodore  Chii,D. 
October  6. 

1  The  chemistry  of  cookery. 

2  Hygienic  values  of  different  methods  of  cooking. 

3  How  may  our  modern  methods  be  improved  ? 

4  How  to  select  and  purchase  food. 

No  digest  of  law's  like  the  law  of  digestion. — MoORE. 
October  20. 

1  Nutritive  value  and  digestibility  of  food. 

2  The  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  a  meat  diet. 

3  Demonstration — how  to  select  meat. 

4  Food  value  of  starches,  sugars,  and  fats. 

5  Soups  and  soup-making. 

Beware  of  such  food  as  persuades  a  man,  though  he  be  not 
hungry,  to  ^a/.— Socrates. 
November  3. 

1  Nutritive  value  of  fish. 

2  Oysters  and  oyster  culture. 

3  Turtle,  shell-fish,  and  moUusks. 

4  The  work  of  the  Department  of  Fisheries  (Colum- 

bian Exposition). 

O  green  and  glorious  I    O  herbaceous  treat  / 
'  T  would  tempt  the  dying  anchorite  to  eat. — Sydney  Smith. 
November  17. 

1  The  hygienic  value  of  vegetables. 

2  The  proper    cooking    of  vegetables,   cereals   and 

legumes. 

3  The  rationale  of  vegetarianism. 

4  The  Aladdin  oven. 


Appendix,  255 

Blest  epicures  from  every  climate  pour  their  gustful  praise. 
— Wm.  Honk. 

December  i. 

1  Milk  as  a  food. 

2  Butter. 

3  Butterine. 

4  Suet,  lard,  and  their  compounds. 

A  dessert  without  cheese  is  like  a  beautiful  woman  with  only 
one  eye. — Brili^aT  Savarin. 

December  15. 

1  Cheese,  the  universal  food. 

2  Bggs — their  food  value  and  proper  cooking, 

3  The  chafing-dish— practical  demonstration. 

4  The  essentials  of  a  modern  cook-book. 

But  happy  they,  thrice  happy,  who  possess 

The  art  to  mix  these  sweets  with  due  address. 

— Wm.  Hon«. 

December  29. 

1  Maple  sugar. 

2  Palm  sugar,  sorghum,  and  honey. 

3  The  sugar-beet  industry. 

4  Jellies  and  marmalades. 

**  Better  is  oaten  bread  to-day  than  cakes  to-morrow  J** 
January  12. 

1  Flour  and  other  prepared  cereals. 

2  Bread  the  staff  of  life. 

3  Bread  of  different  nations. 

4  The  chemistry  of  bread-making. 

5  Macaroni  and  pastes. 

Bear  me,  Pomona,  to  thy  citron  groves. — Thomson. 
January  25. 

1  Food  value  of  nuts. 

2  Fruits  as  food  and  medicine. 

3  The  fruitarian  theory. 

4  Healthful  desserts. 


256  Appendix. 

O,  what  a  thing  is  man  devoid  ofgrace^ 
Adoring  garlic  with  a  humble  face  /—HERBERT. 

February  9. 

1  The  aromatic  herbs. 

2  The  spices  of  the  Orient. 

3  Sauces,  flavors  and  cordials. 

4  Chillis  and  pickles. 

Coffee,  which  makes  the  politician  wise 

And  see  through  all  things  with  his  half-shut  eyes. — POPE. 

February  23. 

1  Coflfee,  its  history  and  usage. 

2  Tea. 

3  Chocolate  and  cocoa. 

4  Mate. 

**  Yes,  water  shall  have  every  due  praise  of  mine  ^ 
Whether  salt,  like  the  ocean,  or  fresh  like  the  Rhine, ^* 

March  9. 

1  Water. 

2  Pure  water  vs.  disease. 

3  Water  as  a  cleansing  agent. 

4  Ice  and  our  ice  supply. 

Plain  food  is  quite  enough  for  m^e.—O.  W.  Hoi,MES. 
March  23. 

1  Food  of  civilized  Europe  and  America. 

2  Food  of  the  Eskimos,  Laps,  and  Alaska  Indians. 

3  Food  of  the  Asiatic  peoples. 

4  Food  of  the  natives  of  the  tropics. 

Nothing  surely  is  so  disgraceful  to  society  as  unmeaning 
wastefulness. — Count  Rumford. 

April  6. 

1  Economy  in  the  use  of  food. 

2  Adulteration  of  food, 

3  The  theory  of  co-operative  housekeeping. 

4  Household  science  in  the  public  schools. 


Appendix.  257 

"  These  trifles  lead  to  serious  mischief,''^ 
April  20. 

1  Chemical  effect  of  bacteria  upon  food. 

2  Nature  and  growth  of  bacteria. 

3  Bacteria  as  factors  in  disease. 

4  The  sterilization  of  food. 

"  Mens  Sana  in  corpore  sano.^* 
May  4. 

1  The  life  and  work  of  Count  Rumford. 

2  House-keeping  in  the  twentieth  century. 

3  The  science  of  physical  culture. 

4  Health  and  dress  reform. 


A  SEASON'S  WORK. 

Outline  of  study  to  use  in  Women's  Clubs  prepared  for  the  National 
Household  Economic  Association. 

BY  MRS.   KATE  H.   WATSON. 
SEPTEMBER. 

Marketing. — Use  of  fall  fruits,  jelly-making,  canning,  and 
pickling. 

Nutritious  food  for  children.  Simple  meals  beautifully  served. 
Foods  eaten  to  nourish  the  body  and  repair  the  waste,  not  to 
"fill  up." 

Nutritive  value  of  food  products. 

The  selection  and  preparation  of  food. 

Value  of  some  cheap  food  materials  :  Legumes,  corn-meal, 
macaroni,  rice,  etc. 

Why  do  we  cook  ?  Fancy  verstis 'p\a.hi  cooking.  Use  of  fats, 
animal  and  vegetable. 

The  five  "  food  principles  "  ;  value  of  each. 

OCTOBER. 

Science  in  the  Home. — The  influence  of  home  on  society  and 
state. 

Art  and  utility  in  the  home.     Ornamentation. 


258  Appendix, 

The  kitclien  :  Light,  heat,  and  ventilation,  size  and  arrange- 
ments. Ranges,  Aladdin  oven,  and  chafing-dish.  Utensils  and 
their  care. 

Dining-room  :  Table  ornamentations,  china,  silver,  and  glass- 
ware. 

Bedroom,  guest-chamber,  conveniences  and  care  of  each. 

Bathroom  and  closets. 


NOVEMBER. 

Suggestions  for  Thanksgiving. — Marketing  and  table  deco- 
ration for  Thanksgiving  Day. 

Selection,  care,  and  preparation  of  meat,  poultry,  and  fish, 
with  the  nutritive  value  of  each. 

Care  of  food  in  winter.  Foods  that  can  be  kept  on  hand  in 
cold  weather.  Value  to  the  housewife  of  canned  and  dried 
meats,  fish,  fruits,  and  vegetables. 

Value  of  nuts  and  grains.  Waste  and  economy  in  the  home. 
Waste  of  time  and  strength. 

DECEMBER. 

The  Christmas  7>;;z^.— Gift-making  and  gift-giving. 
A  plea  for  the  truly  beautiful  and  useful  in  the  home. 
Home  development  as  an  agency  of  social  and  moral  progress. 
Food  for  invalids.     The  invalid's  room. 
The  food  we  eat  and  the  "  food  we  breathe." 
Good  cooking  as  a  civilizing  factor  and  moral  agent. 
Demoralizing  and  devitalizing  tendency  of  impure  and  badly 
cooked  food. 

JANUARY. 

Laundry. — Conveniences.  Soap,  starch,  and  blueing:  the 
use  and  abuse  of  each. 

Washing  and  care  of  house  linen. 
Underwear:  Knitted  or  woven,  silk,  lisle,  and  cotton. 
Embroideries,  white  and  colored.     Silks  and  fine  cottons. 
Washing  of  fine  woollens,  blankets,  and  bedding. 


Appendix,  259 

FEBRUARY. 

Question  of  Z>^^55.— Textiles.     Relative  value  of  materials. 

Dress  as  an  object  of  industrial  art. 

Relations  of  clothes  to  human  life. 

Utility  and  beauty  in  dress.  Economy  and  extravagance  in 
dress. 

Dress  in  its  relation  to  beauty,  health,  comfort,  and  morality. 
The  trinity  :  construction,  ornamentation,  and  color. 

Selecting  and  care  of  clothes.     Law  of  fold  centres. 

Underwear,  stockings,  shoes,  millinery.  Sewing  :  Its  relation 
to  other  arts.     Utilizing  materials  at  hand. 

MARCH. 

During  the  Interregnum. — Preparing  summer  work.  Mak- 
ing, and  making-over  gowns  and  summer  clothing. 

Buying  and  making  house  linen  and  bedding.  Marking  and 
care  of  each.     Pressing  and  cleaning. 

The  annual  cleaning.  The  art  of  scrubbing.  Scientific  clean- 
ing. Any  woman  can  (not)  clean,  but  it  takes  a  nice  woman  to 
keep  clean.     Personal  cleanliness. 

APRIL. 

Art  Outside  of  the  Home. — The  backyard  and  "shed.'* 
Cleanliness  of  the  yard  and  surroundings  of  the  home.  A  plea 
for  plants  and  vines. 

Air,  light,  and  sunshine  in  the  home,  the  best  disinfectants. 

Care  of  garbage  and  waste. 

MAY. 

The  Science  of  Cooking. — Care  of  food  in  warm  weather. 
Transmission  of  disease  by  food. 
Summer  beverages.     Water  and  ice. 
Value  of  salads  as  a  summer  food.     Salad  dressing. 
Milk  and  its  products. 
Summer  jelly-making. 

Care  and  preparation  of  vegetables  and  small  fruits. 
A  plea  for  the  market  man.    Care  of  food  supplies  in  the  mar- 
ket and  grocery. 


26o  Appe7idix, 

THE  CHEMISTRY  OF  FOODS. 

Syllabus  of  a  Course  of  Eight  Lecture-Studies. 

BY  THOMAS  GRANT  ALLEN,  M.A.,  Associatc  Professor  of  Chemistry,  Armour 
Institute,  Chicago. 


I.    General  Introduction. 

A.  Change. 

1.  Chemical  change.     Ex.,  souring  of  milk. 

2.  Physical  change.     Ex.,  melting  of  butter. 

3.  Chemistry  deals  principally  with  changes. 

4.  Affinity  the  cause  of  chemical  change. 

5.  The  physical  forces,  heat  light,  electricity,  vital  force,  etc., 
are  the  agents  which  initiate  or  modify  chemical  change. 
Ex.,  yeast  and  dough  ;  fading  colors. 

B.  Composition  of  substances. 

1.  Substances  mixed  and  substances  combined.  Ex.,  char- 
coal and  water,  and  sugar. 

2.  Compounds  and  elements. 
a  Some  elements. 

(i)  Oxygen.  1-5  of  the  atmosphere,  1-2  of  the  earth's 
crust,  8-9  of  water,  3-5  of  the  body.  Properties  and 
uses — supports  combustion  and  respiration. 

(2)  Hydrogen.  1-9  of  water,  i-io  of  the  body.  Forms 
a  considerable  proportion  of  all  animal  and  vegetable 
substances.     Properties  and  uses. 

(3)  Nitrogen.  4-5  of  the  air,  contained  in  all  animal 
and  vegetable  substances.     Properties  and  uses. 

(4)  Carbon.  1-5  of  the  body,  contained  in  all  living 
things.     Properties  and  uses. 

b  Some  compounds. 

(i)  Water.  Composed  of  hydrogen  and  oxygen.  Prop- 
erties and  uses. 

(2)  Carbon  dioxide.  A  compound  of  oxygen.  Formed 
by  a  combustion  and  respiration.  One  of  the  final 
products  of  decomposition  of  animal  and  vegetable 
substances. 


Appendix,  261 

C.  Classification  of  chemical  compounds. 

1.  Acids,  i.  <?.,  sour  substances.     Ex.,  vinegar. 

2.  Bases,  i.  e.,  substances  whicii  destroy  the  sour  taste  of 
acids.     Ex.,  ammonia, 

3.  Salts,  /.  <?.,  substances  formed  by  the  union  of  acids  and 
bases. 

D.  Oxidation. 

E.  Reduction. 

II.     Uses  of  Food  and  Classification  of  Food  Principles. 

A.  Uses  of  food  in  the  body. 

1.  The  body  needs  food  : 

a  To  build  up  and  develop  its  tissues. 

b  To  repair  the  waste. 

c  To  produce  heat  and  energy. 

2.  How  these  results  are  attained  by  the  consumption  of  food. 
a  Food  is  converted  into  blood  and  lymph,  which  bathes 

the  cellular  elements  of  the  tissues.  The  cells  assimilate 
the  food  thus  furnished  them,  grow  and  multiply,  thus 
increasing  the  volume  of  the  tissue  in  the  young  and 
repairing  the  structure  in  the  adult. 

b  Food  produces  heat  by  being  oxidized,  or  burned  up  in 
the  body. 

c  Food  produces  energy  by  building  up  muscle. 

3.  Advantage  of  variety  in  food. 

4.  Importance  of  cooking  food. 

a  Renders  it  more  palatable  and  digestible. 
b  Destroys  the  germs  of  disease. 

B.  Classification  of  food  principles. 

1.  Incombustibles. 
a  Water, 

b  Mineral  matters. 

2.  Combustibles. 

a  Heat  producers. 

(i)  Hydrocarbons  : — Fats  and  oils. 

(2)  Carbohydrates  : — starch  and  sugar. 
b  Flesh  and  energy  producers  :  proteids. 

3.  Food  adjuncts. 
a  Beverages. 

b  Condiments. 


262  Appendix, 

III.  The  Chemistry  of  the  Human  Body. 

A.  Composition  of  the  body. 

I.  The  ultimate  constituents  comprise  some  15  or  16  ele- 
ments. These  exist  in  about  the  following  amounts  for  a 
man  weighing  148  lbs. 

Oxygen 92.4  lbs.  Calcium  2.80  lbs. 

Hydrogen 14.6    **  Potassium 0.34    " 

Nitrogen 4.6    "  Sodium 0.12    ** 

Chlorine 0.12    "  Magnesium 0.04  ** 

Fluorine 0.02    "  Iron 0.02    '* 

Carbon 33.30   **  Manganese 


Phosphorus 1.40   "  Lithium j- Traces 

Sulphur 0.24    *'  Silicon 

2.  The  proximate  constituents.  The  simpler  ones,  such  as 
sodium  chloride  and  urea,  are  crystalline,  while  the  com- 
plex ones,  as  albumen  and  gelatin,  are  amorphous. 

The  crystalloids  pass  out  of  the  body ;  the  colloids  re- 
main and  form  tissue. 

3.  The  chemical  compounds  in  the  human  body. 
a  Inorganic  compounds. 

(i)  Water  ;  between  60  per  cent,  and  70  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  body. 

(2)  Acids  :  hydrochloric,  lactic,  etc. 

(3)  Salts  :  phosphates  of  lime,  sodium  and  potassium, 
necessary  for  bone  formation.  Sodium  chloride  necessary 
for  cell  activity. 

b  Organic  crystalline  bodies  are  the  result  of  disintegration 
of  the  albuminous  material. 
c  Hydrocarbons,  or  fats,  include  : 
(i)  Stearin. 

(2)  Palmitin. 

(3)  Olein. 

d  Albuminous  bodies  comprise  : 
(i)  Albumins. 

(2)  Globulins. 

(3)  Fibrin. 

(4)  Peptones. 


Appendix,  263 

e  Albuminoid  or  gelatinous  bodies  : 
(i)  Mucin. 
(2)  Gelatin. 
{3)  Chondrin. 
(4)  Elastin. 
f  Ferments. 

(i)  Organized.     Yeast,  bacteria. 
(2)  Unorganized.     Pepsin,  diastase,  etc. 
B.  The  chemistry  of  digestion. 

1.  Object  of  digestion. 

2.  Digestion  in  the  mouth. 
a  Composition  of  saliva. 
b  Functions. 

(i)  Moistens  food. 

(2)  Ministers  to  sense  of  taste. 

(3)  Liquefies  starch  and  converts  it  into  sugar  or  dextrin. 
Evil  results  to  infants  and  dyspeptics  from  use  of  starchy 
foods. 

3.  Digestion  in  the  stomach. 

a  Composition  of  the  gastric  juice. 
b  Its  functions, 
(i)  Converts  albumins  into  peptones. 

(2)  Curdles  milk,  precipitating  casein. 

(3)  Emulsifies  fats. 

4.  Digestion  in  the  intestine. 
a  Uses  of  bile. 

b  Uses  of  pancreatic  juice. 
c  Uses  of  intestinal  juice. 

5.  Passage  of  digested  food  into  the  blood. 

6.  Necessity  for  a  mixed  diet. 

7.  Effect  of  cooking  on  digestibility. 

IV.   Incombustibles. 

A.  Water. 

1.  Natural  waters.     Potable  waters. 

2.  Impurities  in  water.     Methods  of  detection.     Purification. 

3.  Hard  waters.     Softening  of  water. 

4.  Use  of  water  in  the  body. 
a  To  keep  the  skin  moist. 


264  Appendix, 

b  To  furnish  a  medium  for  excretion  of  solids. 
c  To  aid  digestion  and  absorption. 
d  To  aid  in  chemical  change. 
5.  Cooking  of  water. 
B.  Mineral  matters. 

1.  Source. 

2.  Use  in  the  body. 

V.    Combustibles. 

A.  Heat-producers. 

1.  Hydrocarbons,  i,e.^  fats  and  oils. 
a  Chemical  composition. 

b  The  chemical  changes  they  undergo  in  the  body. 

c  Animal  oils,  butter,  lard,  butterine. 

d  Vegetable  oils.     Ex.,  cottolene,  palm  oil. 

e  Food  value  :  not  flesh-formers,  but  good  heat-givers. 

2.  Carbohydrates. 

a  The  grape-sugar  group. 
(i)    Grape  sugar. 

(2)  Fruit  sugar. 

(3)  Galactose. 

(4)  Inosite. 

h  The  cane-sugar  group, 
(i)     Cane  sugar. 

(2)  Milk  sugar. 

(3)  Malt  sugar. 

i  Cooking  of  sugar, 

ii  Food  value, 

iii  Maple  sugar, 

iv  Saccharine. 
c  The  starch  group, 

(i)  Starch. 

(2)  Dextrin. 

(3)  Glycogen. 

i    Structure  of  starch  grains. 
ii    Food  value. 
Starch  is  not    a   flesh    former,  as    it    does    not    contain 
nitrosren. 


Appendix,  265 

Starch  is  burned  in  the  body  to  produce  heat.     It  gives 
less  heat  than  fats  and  oils,  but  gives  it  more  quickl}'. 
iii  Cooking  of  starch.     Ex.,  Toast,  thickening  of  gravies, 
sauces,  etc. 
B.  The  flesh-formers  or  force-producers. 
a  Proteids.     Chemical  composition. 

Classification.     Changes  which  they  undergo  in  the  body. 
Bxampies. 
b.  Albuminoids.     Chemical  composition. 
Classification.     Examples. 
Uses  and  value  of  the  proteids  and  albuminoids  ;  not  only 

flesh-formers  and  force-producers,  but  heat-givers. 
Gelatin.    Source  and  extraction.    Uses  as  a  food. 


VI.  Vegetable  Foods. 

General  characters : 

A.  Cereals. 

Wheat.  Rye.  Barley. 

Oats.  Rice.  Maize. 

1.  Composition. 

2.  Chemistry  of  bread  and  bread-making.     Dough.     Fer- 

mented and  unfermented  bread. 

Baking-powders  :  their  composition,  uses,  and  adultera- 
tions. 

Cooking — Softens  the  cellulose,  breaks  the  starch,  softens 
the  gluten. 

New  and  stale  bread. 

3.  Eood  value. 

B.  Legumes  or  pulse. 

Peas.  Beans. 

1.  Composition. 

2.  Value  as  foods. 

C.  Farinaceous  Foods. 

Sago.  Tapioca. 

Arrowroot.     Corn-flour. 

1.  Composition. 

2.  Value. 


266 


Appendix, 


D.  Tubers  and  roots. 

1.  Composition. 

2.  Value. 

E.  Fruits. 

1.  Composition. 

Salts. 

2.  Value  as  foods. 

F.  Green  vegetables. 

1.  Composition. 

2.  Value  as  foods. 


Acids. 


Pectin. 


VII.  Animal  Foods. 


General  characters  : 

A.  Milk. 

1.  Composition. 

2.  Adulteration. 

3.  Preservation. 

4.  Preparations  :    Koumiss,  Condensed  Milk,  Cheese, 

5.  Cooking. 

B.  Eggs. 

1.  Composition. 

2.  Preservation. 

3.  Cooking. 

C.  Flesh. 

General  characters  : 

Beef.        Pork.        Veal.         Fowl.        Fish. 

1.  Composition. 

2.  Preparations  :  Soup,  Broth,  Extract. 

3.  Cooking. 

4.  Preservation. 

VIII.   Food  Adjuncts. 

A.  Beverages. 
I.  Tea. 
a  Preparation. 
b  Composition. 
c  Stimulating  principle.    Theine.     Bitter  principle.     Tan- 


Appendix,  267 

d  Flavor.     An  essential  oil. 
e  Adulteration. 
f  Cooking. 
g  Effect  on  body. 

2.  Coffee. 

a  Preparation. 
b  Composition. 
c  Adulteration. 
d  Cooking. 

3.  Cocoa. 

4.  Alcohol. 
B.  Condiments. 

Salt.  Pepper.  Vinegar.  Spices. 

The  books  which  will  be  especially  helpful  in  this  course 
are  : 
Inorganic  Chemistry  (Remsen). 
Hunta?i  Physiology  (Landois  and  Sterling). 
The  Science  of  Nutrition  (Atkinson). 
The  Chemistry  of  Foods  (Bell). 
Foods  and  Beverages  (Beal). 
Foods  (Blythe). 

Food :  Its  Source,  Origin  and  Composition  (Church). 
The  Science  of  Food  (Cole). 
Gelatin  (Davidowsky). 
Starch,  Glucose  and  Sugar  (Frankei). 
Food  (Hassall). 

Food  Adulteration  and  its  Detection  (Battershall). 
Bacteriology  (Fraenkel). 

Butter:  Its  Analysis  and  Adulteration  (Hehner  and  Angell), 
Chemistry  of  Common  Life  (Johnson). 
The  Chemistry  of  Life  and  Health  (Kimmins). 
Chemistry  of  Bread,  Wheat  and  Flour  (Jago). 
Studies  in  Fermentation  (Pasteur). 
Hygiene  (Rohe). 

Food  and  Feeding  (Thompson,  Sir  H.) 
Chemistry  of  Cookifig  (Richards,  Mrs.). 
Food  in  Health  and  Disease  (Yeo). 
Chemistry  of  Cooking  (Williams). 


268  Appendix, 

NATIONAI,  HOUSEHOLD  ECONOMIC  ASSOCIATION. 

GENERAIv  OFFICERS. 

Honorary  President,  Mrs.  Potter  Palmer,  loo  Lake  Shore  Drive. 
Vice-President-at-large,  Mrs.  Charles  Henrotin,  376  Ontario  St. 
Acting  President,  Mrs.  E.  B.  Harbert,  Evanston,  111. 
Vice-President  for  Illinois,  Mrs.  Robert  H.  Wiles,  Freeport. 
Recording  Secretary,   Mrs.  Anna  B.  McMahan,  4577  Oaken- 

wald  Ave. 
Corresponding  Secretary,  Mrs.   Alice  J.  Whitney,  453  Belden 

Ave. 
Treasurer,  Mrs.  Frances  E.  Owens,  6241  Sheridan  Ave. 

STATE  VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

Massachusetts,  Mrs.  Minerva  B.  Tobey,  19  W.  Cedar  St.,  Boston. 

New  Hampshire,  Mrs.  Lillian  Streeter,  Concord. 

Connecticut,  Mrs.  V.  E.  Keeler,  New  Haven. 

New  York,  Mrs.  Helen  H.  Backus,  57  Livingston  St.,  Brooklyn. 

Maryland,  Mrs.  John  J.  Abel,  1604  Bolton  St.,  Baltimore. 

Virginia,  Mrs.  Ann  Green,  Culpepper. 

Pennsylvania,  Mrs.  John  Converse,  Rosemont,  Philadelphia. 

Alabama,  Mrs.  Priscilla  Goodwin,  Robinson  Springs. 

Louisiana,  Miss  Catherine  Minor,  Kouma, 

Kansas,  Mrs.  C.  F.  Wilder,  Manhattan. 

Utah,  Mrs.  Susan  Young  Gates,  Provo. 

Oregon,  Mrs.  E.  W.  Allen,  Portland. 

California,  not  yet  decided. 

Iowa,  Mrs.  Virginia  J.  Berryhill,  ion  Pleasant  St.,  Des  Moines. 

Michigan,  Dr.  Mary  E.  Green,  Charlotte. 

Ohio,  Miss  Ottilie  H.  Krebs,  Forest  Ave.,  Avon  dale,  Cincinnati. 

Illinois,  duties  performed  by  Acting  President. 

Minnesota,  not  yet  decided. 

Indiana,  not  yet  decided. 

Kentucky,  Mrs.  Virginia  M.  Lewis,  1801  4th  Ave.,  Louisville. 

Missouri,  Mrs.  C.  E.  Stirling,  20  Westmoreland  PI.,  St.  Louis. 

Nebraska,  Mrs.  Harriet  S.  McMurphy. 

Wisconsin,  not  yet  decided. 


Appendix.  269 

Colorado,  Mrs.  Lyl  M.  Stansbury,  Denver. 
Maine,  Mrs.  Sarah  Fairfield  Hamilton,  Saco. 
New  Jersey,  Mrs.  Louise  Downs  Qnigley,  Orange. 

BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS. 

Term  expiring  in  1895.— Mrs.  Ellen  R.  Mendenhall,  1804 
Green  St.,  Philadelphia.  Mrs.  Frances  E.  Owens,  6241  Sheridan 
Ave.  Mrs.  Susan  lyook  Avery,  Anchorage,  Ky.  Mrs.  Mary 
Hinman  Abel,  1604  Bolton  St.,  Baltimore. 

Term  expiring  in  1896. — Mrs  Ellen^  B.  Dietrick,  20  Lowell 
St.,  Cambridge,  Mass.  Mrs.  Sarah  F.  Gane,  425  La  Salle  Ave. 
Mrs.  Kate  H.  Watson,  319  S.  Robey  St.  Mrs.  Ella  Hill,  3910 
Langley  Ave. 

Term  expiring  in  1897. — Mrs.  Ellen  M.  Henrotin,  376  Ontario 
St,  Mrs.  Lavinia  Hargis,  660  La  Salle  Ave.  Mrs.  Phoebe 
Butler,  116  Wisconsin  St.,  Oak  Park.  Mrs.  Gertrude  Eastman 
(resigned),  Los  Angeles,  California. 

Term  Expiring  in  1898. — Mrs.  Elizabeth  Boynton  Harbert, 
Evanston,  111.  Mrs.  Mary  McKittrick,  Locust  St.,  St.  Louis. 
Rev.  Anna  Garlin  Spencer,  387  Broadway,  Providence,  R.  L 
Mrs.  Laura  S.  Wilkinson,  482  La  Salle  Ave. 


CHAIRMAN  OF  STANDING  COMMITTEES. 

1.  Sanitary  Condition  of  the  Home,  Mrs.  Minerva  B.  Tobey,  19 

W.  Cedar  St.,  Boston. 

2.  Cooking  Schools,  Mrs.  Olive  Cotton,  Athenaeum  Bldg. 

3.  Food  Supply,  Mrs.  Kate  H.  Watson,  319  S.  Robey  St. 

4.  Housekeepers'  Clubs,  Mrs.  Mary  Coleman  Stuckert,  Audito- 

rium Bldg. 

5.  Sewing,  Mrs.  Adele  Strawbridge,  683  W.  Adams  St. 

6.  Press,  in  charge  of  Mrs.  Ellen  Battelle  Dietrick,  Cambridge, 

Mass.,  Mrs.  Charlotte  Perkins  Stetson,  San  Francisco, 
Cal.,  Mrs.  Helen  H.  Backus,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Mrs.  Vir- 
ginia D.  Young,  Fairfax,  S.  C. ,  Mrs.  Maria  S.  Orwig,  Chi- 
cago, 111. 


2  yo  Appendix, 

THE  NATIONAL  HOUSEHOLD  ECONOMIC 
ASSOCIATION. 

Incorporated  March  i6,  1893. 

The  following  articles  of  incorporation  and  by-laws  of  The 
National  Household  Economic  Association  were  adopted  March 
22,  1893,  and  went  into  effect  at  the  annual  meeting,  October  11, 
1893.  The  Association  voted  to  drop  the  word  "  Columbian  "  at 
the  meeting  held  in  April,  1894. 

I.  The  name  of  the  Association  shall  be  "  The  National  House- 
hold Economic  Association." 

II.  The  object  of  this  Association  shall  be  : —  i.  to  awaken 
the  public  mind  to  the  importance  of  establishing  Bureaus  of 
Information  where  there  can  be  an  exchange  of  wants  and  needs 
between  employer  and  employed,  in  every  department  of  home 
and  social  life.  2.  To  promote  among  members  of  the  Associ- 
ation a  more  scientific  knowledge  of  the  economic  value  of  vari- 
ous foods  and  fuels  ;  a  more  intelligent  understanding  of  correct 
plumbing  and  drainage  in  our  homes,  as  well  as  need  for  pure 
water  and  good  light  in  a  sanitarily  built  house.  3.  To  secure 
skilled  labor  in  every  department  in  our  homes,  and  to  organ- 
ize Schools  of  Household  Science  and  Service. 

I,IST  OF  DIRECTORS  FOR  FIRST   YEAR. 

Mrs.  Laura  S.  Wilkinson,  Mrs.  Sarah  F.  Gane,  Mrs,  Isadore 
P.  Taylor,  Mrs.  Frances  E.  Owens,  Mrs.  Ellen  M.  Henrotin, 
Mrs.  Lavinia  Hargis,  Mrs.  Phcebe  Butler,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Hill,  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  B.  Harbert,  Mrs.  L.  M.  Mendenhall,  Mrs.  Mary  H. 
Abel,  Mrs.  Susan  Look  Avery,  Mrs.  Kate  Watson,  Mrs.  Mary 
W.  McKittrick,  Mrs.  H.  T.  Eastman,  Mrs.  Ellen  Battelle 
Dietrick. 

BY-I,AWS. 

I.  The  management  of  this  Association  for  the  first  year  shall 
be  vested  in  a  board  of  sixteen  directors,  named  in  the  articles 
of  incorporation.  The  directors  shall  divide  themselves  by  lot 
into  four  classes  of  four  each,  whose  terms  of  office  shall  expire 


Appendix,  271 

respectively  at  the  end  of  one,  two,  three,  and  four  years,  and 
vacancies  occurring  shall  be  filled  by  a  vote  of  the  Association. 

II.  The  officers  of  this  Association  shall  be  :  an  Honorary 
President  and  Acting  President,  a  Vice-President,  a  Vice-Presi- 
dent-at-large,  a  Recording  Secretary,  a  Corresponding  Secretary, 
and  a  Treasurer.  There  shall  also  be  a  Vice-President  for  each 
State  and  a  Chairman  for  each  county  of  each  State,  the  officers 
to  be  elected  at  annual  meetings. 

III.  The  duties  of  the  Honorary  President  shall  be  to  preside 
at  the  annual  meeting  and  to  consult  and  advise  with  the 
Board  of  Directors. 

IV.  The  Acting  President  and  Vice-President  shall  perform 
all  the  duties  incident  to  such  offices. 

V.  The  Vice-Presidents  shall  supervise  the  work  in  their 
respective  States,  and  report  at  the  annual  and  semi-annual 
meetings.  They  shall  organize  such  work  as  they  deem  appro- 
priate to  the  needs  of  their  States,  providing  they  work  in  har- 
mony with  the  Articles  of  Incorporation. 

VI.  The  Recording  Secretary  shall  keep  a  record  of  all  the 
meetings  and  send  to  all  the  absent  members  reports  of  same. 

VII.  The  Corresponding  Secretary  shall  attend  to  all  the  cor- 
respondence and  issue  calls  for  the  various  meetings,  and  notify 
the  Vice-President  two  weeks  before  the  annual  and  semi- 
annual meeting,  and  make  such  reports  as  the  President  may 
recommend. 

VIII.  The  Treasurer  shall  have  charge  of  all  the  funds  of  the 
Association,  and  shall  keep  an  exact  account  of  all  receipts  and 
disbursements,  and  shall  only  pay  such  bills  as  have  been 
approved  by  the  Finance  Committee.  She  shall  be  required  to 
report  at  each  annual  and  semi-annual  meeting,  and  at  such 
other  times  as  the  President  shall  require. 

IX.  The  Finance  Committee  shall  pass  on  all  bills,  audit  the 
accounts  of  the  Treasurer,  and  report  to  the  Association  at  each 
annual  meeting,  and  also  at  the  semi-annual  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Directors. 

X.  The  Chairman  of  each  of  the  various  counties  shall  arrange 
and  provide  for  Household  Economic  Clubs  in  her  county,  and 
shall  report  to  her  Vice-President  two  weeks  before  the  annual 
and  semi-annual  meetings. 


272  Appendix, 

XI.  The  annual  meeting  of  the  Association  shall  be  held  on 
the  last  Wednesday  of  October,  and  this  shall  be  the  beginning 
of  the  fiscal  year.  After  this  meeting  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  present  to  elect  three  of  its  members  who 
shall  constitute  the  Financial  Committee  for  the  coming  year. 
A  semi-annual  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  shall  be  held 
on  the  second  Wednesday  of  April,  when  reports  shall  be  read 
from  the  different  States,  the  place  selected  for  the  next  annual 
meeting,  and  all  other  business  transacted,  which  may  come 
before  the  Association.  There  shall  also  be  held  monthly 
meetings  in  each  State  branch  of  the  Association. 

XII.  Special  meetings  of  the  Association  may  be  called  by 
the  President,  Vice-President,  or  any  three  members  of  the 
Board,  the  object  of  the  meeting  being  stated  on  the  call  for  the 
meeting. 

XIII.  There  shall  also  be  the  following  standing  committees  : 

1.  Committee  on  Sanitary  Condition  of  the  Home,  correct 
Plumbing  and  Ventilation,  Light,  Heat,  etc.  The  duties  of 
this  committee  shall  be  to  establish  Home  Science  Clubs  and 
to  make  a  study  of  Sanitary  Science. 

2.  Committee  on  Cooking  Schools,  Industrial  Schools, 
Housekeepers'  Emergency  Bureau,  Co-operative  Laundries, 
Co-operative  Bakeries,  Training  School  for  Servants,  Kitchen 
Gardens  and  Public  Kindergartens,  Diet  Kitchens,  Mothers' 
and  Nurse  Girls'  Classes,  and  Training  School  for  Nurses.  The 
duties  of  this  committee  shall  be  to  keep  itself  informed  of  the 
work  of  each  school  and  institution,  and  to  direct  all  who  wish 
to  know  where  and  at  what  hour  one  may  visit  these  schools. 

3.  Committee  on  Food  Supply.  The  duties  of  this  committee 
shall  be  to  prepare  a  descriptive  list  of  wholesale  and  retail 
foods,  such  as  meat,  vegetables,  butter,  eggs,  etc.  ;  to  compare 
New  York  and  Chicago  with  other  markets,  and  furnish  state- 
ments of  what  articles  of  food  are  most  desirable  to  buy,  either 
in  large  or  small  quantities,  with  household  recipes  for  cooking 
and  all  other  matters  relating  to  household  economics. 

4.  Committee  on  Housekeepers'  Clubs.  The  duties  of  this 
committee  shall  be  to  formulate  plans  to  simplify  housework  in 
village  communities,  to  suggest  plans  for  co-operation  in  laun- 
dries, bakeries,  and  kitchens,  to  discuss  plans  for  profitable 


Appendix.  273 

market  gardening,  poultry-  and  egg-raising  on  a  small  scale,  and 
to  furnish  information  on  all  topics  connected  with  housework. 

5.  Committee  on  Sewing.  The  duties  of  this  committee  shall 
be  to  keep  itself  informed  of  the  work  done  in  various  schools 
where  sewing  is  taught,  and  give  outlines  of  the  methods  used. 

6.  Press  Committee.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  this  committee 
to  secure  the  publication  of  notes  concerning  the  National 
Household  Economic  Association  in  some  journal  or  periodical 
in  the  North,  South,  East,  West,  and  Middle  sections  of  the 
country,  in  order  to  keep  alive  public  interest  in  the  science 
of  household  economics  ;  each  member  of  the  committee  tak- 
ing charge  of  the  matter  in  her  own  section. 

7.  All  women  may  become  members  of  this  Association  by 
the  payment  of  an  annual  fee  of  one  dollar. 

8.  These  by-laws  may  be  amended  at  any  annual  meeting  by 
a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  members  present,  such  amendment 
having  been  included  in  the  call  for  the  annual  meeting. 

9.  The  deliberations  of  all  the  meetings  of  this  Association 
shall  be  governed  by  "  Roberts'  Rules  of  Order." 


FORM  FOR  ANY  HOUSEHOLD  ECONOMIC  SOCIETY. 

THE  CHICAGO  HOUSEHOI,D  ECONOMIC  SOCIETY. 

Among  the  hopeful  signs  of  progress  now  before  us,  none  is 
more  encouraging  than  our  rapid  development  along  the  lines 
of  household  economics.  Those  intricate  and  valuable  services 
performed  in  the  home  are  no  longer  left  unquestioningly  to 
untrained  hands  and  untaught  heads. 

We  have  come  to  see  that  this  work  is  not  merely  "  service," 
but  is  an  art,  a  science,  a  craft,  a  business,  and  a  profession. 
Schools,  colleges,  and  universities  are  taking  up  this  line  of 
study  and  following  it  with  new  enthusiasm.  Clubs  and  societies 
are  adding  this  subject  to  their  lists,  and  the  field  of  practical 
illustration  is  being  rapidly  filled  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  cooking-school  in  great  cities  shows  the  personal  initia- 
tive finding  expression,  and  the  cooking-classes  added  to  the 


2  74  Appendix, 

public  school  curriculum  proves  the  general  recognition  of  the 
value  of  this  study. 

Lectures,  articles,  essays,  and  stories  in  magazines  and  papers 
indicate  the  increasing  interest  of  the  public  in  this  new  science 
of  which  we  are  just  beginning  to  appreciate  the  scope. 

The  master  of  household  economics  must  understand  all  that 
pertains  to  the  immediate  surroundings  of  human  life  and  its 
maintenance,  building,  furnishing,  and  decoration,  sanitary 
engineering,  hygiene,  physiology,  and  chemistry  ;  with  labora- 
tory analysis  of  foods  and  their  adulteration,  even  to  floriculture 
and  landscape  gardening.  And  this  is  not  touching  upon  the 
professional  side,  the  skill  in  methods  of  cleaning  and  in  the 
mighty  art  of  preparing  food. 

Departments  of  household  economics  are  now  added  to  the 
Wisconsin  State  University  at  Madison  ;  the  Leland  Stanford, 
Jr.,  University  in  California,  and  the  University  of  Chicago, 
and  many  ethers  are  contemplating  such  an  addition  to  their 
course. 

The  Boston  Institute  of  Technology  has  a  very  complete 
course  on  this  subject ;  the  People's  Institute,  Pratt,  Drexel, 
and  Armour,  have  special  departments  for  its  study,  and  the 
public  schools  of  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Washington,  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  other  cities  are  introducing  manual  training  in  this 
line  with  marked  success. 

The  Michigan  State  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs  has  adopted 
Household  Economics  as  the  subject  of  its  year's  work,  and  the 
General  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs  of  America  has  sent  out 
a  programme  of  similar  work  and  recommended  it  to  its  vast 
constituency. 

The  admirable  work  of  Mrs.  Fischelle  in  St.  Louis  is  bring- 
ing the  nev/  thought  within  reach  of  the  poor,  and  the  wide- 
spread "  kitchen  gardens  "  carry  on  in  one  detail  what  the  all- 
embracing  kindergarten  begins. 

In  Vienna  and  Berlin  time  has  proven  the  business  success  as 
well  as  hygienic  value  of  numerous  flourishing  people's  kitch- 
ens ;  in  London  the  South  Kensington  school  has  its  eff"ect  in 
this  field  of  life  ;  in  Paris  full  training  is  provided  in  the  schools 
for  this  work,  though  with  the  French  the  social  sense  is  so 
highly  developed  that  household  economics  have  long  since 


Appejidix,  275 

become  an  art  as  well  as  a  science.  lu  Boston  we  have  the 
finest  and  fullest  exhibition  of  progress  in  this  line  on  this  side 
of  the  water,  with  its  thoroughly  established  New  England 
Kitchen,  its  industrial  unions,  its  furnishing  of  lunch  to  the 
public  schools,  etc.  In  Syracuse  much  fine,  practical  work  is 
being  done,  especially  on  the  question  of  trained  service.  In 
New  York,  Washington,  and  Philadelphia  are  diet  kitchens 
where  medical  cookery  is  furnished,  and  in  our  leading  medical 
colleges  a  course  in  such  cookery  is  provided,  not  only  for  nurses 
but  for  physicians,  and  now  Chicago  is  organizing  an  earnest 
effort  to  put  into  practical  effect  some  of  the  new  knowledge 
on  this  great  theme. 

What  the  National  Household  Economic  Association,  under 
the  far-reaching  and  energetic  leadership  af  Mrs.  John  Wilkin- 
son, has  so  well  initiated  in  the  nation  at  large  it  is  now  hoped 
to  develop  into  local  expression  in  this  city. 

Chicago  has  never  been  backward  in  recognizing  the  impor- 
tant movements  in  the  world  and  is  easily  able  to  take  the 
leadership  in  this  great  field.  Dean  Marion  Talbot  of  Chicago 
University,  one  of  the  most  admirably  trained  women  in  the 
country,  is  doing  work  which  should  easily  hold  her  college  in 
the  front  rank  in  this  department.  Armour  Institute  is  so  alive 
to  the  importance  of  the  movement  that  it  has  supplemented 
its  regular  work  under  the  able  management  of  Miss  BuUard 
by  the  most  liberal  offers  of  its  large  advantages  in  hall,  class- 
room, and  laboratory  to  the  work  now  undertaken  by  the  Chi- 
cago H,  E.  Society.  The  work  proposed  by  this  association 
for  the  present  is  as  follows  : 

To  establish  at  least  one  training  class  for  household  service, 
■with  careful  examination  of  applicants  claiming  to  have  had 
training,  and  giving  certificates  as  to  grade  in  skill  and  experi- 
ence. To  form  a  housekeeper's  alliance  which  shall  agree,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  engage  the  graduates  of  the  special  training 
class  ;  to  establish  a  central  office  with  a  secretary,  with  bureau 
of  information,  registration,  etc.,  etc.,  furnishing  full  biblio- 
graphy, lists  of  teachers,  speakers,  and  the  like. 

This  is  an  immediate  beginning,  the  entering  wedge  of  much 
larger  work.  It  should  result  in  time  in  a  great  central  build- 
ing giving  full  accommodation  to  all  departments  of  the  work ; 


2  76  Appendix, 

where  every  principle  and  detail  of  household  economics  will 
be  taught  with  full  training  on  the  technical  side  ;  where  a  com- 
plete registration  department  will  bring  employer  and  employ^ 
together  on  a  reliable  basis,  and  where  the  newest  thought  and 
material  progress  in  this  field  of  life  will  continually  be  given  to 
the  public. 

In  every  poor  quarter  of  the  city,  people's  kitchen  buildings 
should  demonstrate  the  value  of  the  new  methods  and  bring 
into  immediate  reach  of  every  home  this  invaluable  instruction. 

Kven  from  the  narrowest  point  of  view  it  means  a  great  im- 
provement in  the  convenience  of  living  among  the  rich  and  a 
still  greater  uplift  into  the  ease,  health,  and  beauty  of  life  among 
the  poor.  In  this  work  we  ask  the  interest  and  co-operation  of 
every  intelligent  citizen. 

The  Chicago  Househoi^d  Economic  Society, 
Ei*i,EN  F.  Marshai,!,,  Sec'y. 


CONSTITUTION 

OF  THE 

CHICAGO  HOUSEHOLD  ECONOMIC  SOCIETY. 

ARTICI^E  I. — NAME. 

The  name  of  this  association  shall  be  the  Chicago  House- 
hold Economic  society. 

ARTICI^E  II.— OBJECT. 

The  object  of  this  society  shall  be  to  establish  in  Chicago  a 
practical  expression  of  the  purposes  outlined  in  the  articles  of 
incorporation  of  the  National  Household  Economic  Association, 

ARTICI^E  III.— OFFICERS. 

Sec.  I.  The  officers  of  this  society  shall  be  a  president,  vice- 
president,  recording  secretary,  corresponding  secretary,  and 
treasurer. 


Appendix,  i"]"] 

Sec.  2.  An  executive  committee  shall  be  appointed  consist- 
ing of  five  members,  of  which  the  president  of  the  society  shall 
be  chairman,  to  have  charge  of  the  affairs  of  the  society. 

ARTICI.E  IV.— MEMBERSHIP. 

Any  resident  of  Chicago  or  vicinity  interested  in  our  object 
and  willing  to  further  it  is  eligible  to  membership  in  this  society. 

ARTICI.E  v.— MEETINGS. 

Sec.  I.  Business  meetings  of  this  society  shall  be  held  quar- 
terly, the  first  to  be  on  the  first  Thursday  in  December,  1895, 
and  to  constitute  the  beginning  of  the  fiscal  year. 

Sec.  2.  Public  meetings  shall  be  held  as  deemed  advisable 
by  the  executive  committee. 

ARTICI.E  VI.— DUES. 

The  annual  dues  of  this  society  shall  be  %7.  ;  associate  mem- 
bers. Is,  and  life  members,  $50. 

ARTlCIvE  VII. — AMENDMENTS. 

This  constitution  may  be  amended  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of 
those  present  and  voting  at  an  annual  meeting,  such  amendment 
having  been  submitted  in  writing  at  the  quarterly  meeting  next 
previous. 


INDEX. 


Abel,  Mrs.  Mary  Hinman,  xvii.,  2,  158 

Adulteration,  185 

Agricultural  and  social  interrelation,  154  ;  and  food  supply,  815 

Air,  need  of,  62  ;  night,  47,  64,  67 

Anthropology,  help  of,  15 

Applied  art,  56  ;  a  home  art,  41 

Architecture,  and  house,  6  ;  domestic,  42,  52 ;  limitations  of, 

57 ;  American,  55  ;  Greek,  44  ;  forms  of,  56 
Aristotle,  statement  of,  3 
Art,  decorative,  80  ;  among  savages,  90  ;  relation  of  decorative 

to  pictorial,  89  ;  development  of,  92 ;  national,  96  ;  influence 

upon  child,  96-8  ;  pubUc,  57 
Australia  and  domestic  service,  226 

B 

Bacteria,  198  ;  culture  of,  199 

Bath,  75 

Beauty,  103  ;  sense  of  in  women,  94;  bases  of,  109 

Bedroom,  place  in  house,  28 

Bibliography,  39,  59,  84,  104,  126 

Bread,  per  cent,  of,  13 


Breathing,  habits  of,  62 


Camps,  lumber,  65 
Carbohydrates,  169 


279 


28o  Index. 

Carpenter,  Edward,  207 

Carroll,  Lewis,  58 

Cat,  domestic,  16 

Cellar,  drainage  of,  78 

Cellars,  old-fashioned,  200  ;  Philadelphia  rules  for,  203 

Cells,  specializing,  153 

Cesspool,  80 

Chair,  development  of,  116 

Chambers,  Dr.,  163 

Chemistry  of  foods,  lectures  on,  260-267 

ChHd,  the,  food  of,  184 

Children,  their  lives,  58  ;  influence  of  home  surroundings 
upon,  97,  121 

Cistern,  78,  79 

City  against  country,  35-38 

Civilization,  central  fact  of,  4  ;  retardation  of,  11,  36 

Cleaning,  antiseptic  methods  in,  145,  188  ;  and  excretion,  189  ; 
ethics  of,  205 

Club,  Chicago  Women's,  240  ;  Peoria  (111.)  Woman's,  250 ; 
Worcester  (Mass.)  Woman's,  250  ;  Woburn  (Mass.)  Woman's, 
250;  Wellesley  Hills  (Mass.)  Woman's,  250;  Springfield 
(Mass.)  Woman's,  250  ;  Elgin  (111.)  Woman's,  250  ;  St.  Johns- 
bury  (Vt.)  Woman's,  251 ;  Alden,  Franklin,  Mass.,  252  ;  New 
Century,  Wilmington,  Del. ,  251 ;  Cleveland  Sorosis,  251 ; 
Wednesday,  St.  Louis,  251  ;  Watertown  (Mass.),  252  ;  Canta- 
brigia  (Mass.),  252  ;  Colonia,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  252  ;  Arundel, 
Baltimore,  252 

Coal,  soft,  and  its  effects,  203 

Color  in  decoration,  80,  100-102 

Color  sense,  development  of,  100 

Consumptives,  65 

Cookery,  American,  144 ;  chemistry  of,  161,  174  ;  rank  of,  175  ; 
varied  place  of,  176 ;  a  trade,  176  ;  a  service,  176  ;  a  craft, 
177  ;  a  science,  177  ;  time  spent  in,  176  ;  definition  of,  176 ; 
an  art,  178  ;  apparatus  of,  180 ;  methods  in,  180  ;  advance  in, 
181  ;  degradation  of,  182 

Co-operation  or  combination,  243 

Court-House,  New  York,  67 

Creed,  Scotchman's,  xii 

Criminals,  influence  of  food  on,  164 


Index »  281 


Decoration,  its  possibilities,  8 ;  meaning  of,  87,  93 ;  develop- 
ment of,  88  ;  among  savages,  90 
Derby,  Dr.  George,  32,  76 
Design,  8 

Dietaries,  students',  158  ;  general,  183,  185 
Differentiation  of  industries,  133 
Dirt,  the  making  of,  193 
Domestic  service,  arguments  for,  222 
Drainage,  importance  of,  33  ;  Philadelphia,  195 
Drummond,  Ascent  of  Man,  3,  231 
Dusters,  feather,  196  ;  damp,  196  ;  professional,  206 


Electricity,  for  heating,  72 ;  for  lighting,  73 
Ellis,  Havelock,  14 
Employments,  divisions  of,  15 

Evolution,  of  mothers,  3  ;  of  the  home,  27  ;  of  decorative  art, 
92  ;  of  furniture,  114  ;  organic,  230 ;  civic,  230 


Factory  operatives,  needs  of,  170 

Family,  the  life  of,  2 

Fats,  169,  171 

Feeding,  148 

Fischell,  Mrs.,  work  of,  274 

Flats,  53 

Flesh  formers,  159 

Fluff,  200 

Food,  elements  of,  157, 168  ;  division  of,  157  ;  and  the  kitchen, 
156  ;  consumption  of,  per  week,  170  ;  amount  required,  184 

Foundation,  of  house,  33 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  64 

Furnace,  71 

Furnishing,  laws  of,  8 

Furniture,  extensions  of  the  body,  108  ;  harmony  of.  111 ;  prin- 
ciples of  selection,  113,  121 ;  evolution  of,  114 ;  personality 
and,  120,  124 


282  Index, 

G 

Gannett,  William,  7,  8 

Garbage,  disposition  of,  in  St.  Paul,  201 

Gardening,  landscape,  54 

Gas,  for  heating,  73 

Grahamites,  162 

Gray's,  Asa,  butterfly,  246 

Greek  architecture,  44-47 

Green,  Dr.  Mary  E.,  253 

H 

Harmony  in  furniture,  112 

Haweis,  Mrs.  H.  R.,  50 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  143 

Health,  relation  of  houses  to,  46  ;  of  building  site,  31 

Heat,  habit  of,  66 

Heating,  and  ventilation,  70  ;  methods  of,  71,  72 

Home,  clogging  of,  190  ;  a  stronger,  246  ;  relation  of,  to  life,  3 

House,  relation  of,  to  life,  20,  21 ;  a  growth,  25  ;  and  the  State, 
128  ;  effect  of,  on  character,  24,  26,  29  ;  the  result  of  charac- 
ter, 29  ;  the  tenement,  26  ;  industries,  132  ;  differentiation  of, 
27  ;  and  soul,  unity  of,  24,  30  ;  site  of,  31 ;  heating  and  ven- 
tilation of,  68-72 ;  foundation  of,  33 ;  oriental,  47  ;  growth 
of,  54  ;  the  private,  56  ;  definition  of,  57,  organization  of,  60 

Household  economics,  statics  and  dynamics  of,  2  ;  connecting 
link,  2 ;  definition  of,  2  ;  and  life,  3  ;  relation  of,  to  social 
economics,  128 

Household,  parent  of  the  State,  3,  128  ;  a  living  organism,  4; 
structure  of,  5  ;  functions  of,  5  ;  industries  of,  132  ;  labor  of 
National,  Economic  Association,  plan  of,  xx.  ;  Chicago 
Economic,  273  ;  formation  of,  145,  226  ;  constitution  of,  273 ; 
economics,  club  work  in,  249  ;  science,  a  course  in,  253-257 ; 
a  season's  work  in,  257-259 

Household  science,  an  instinct,  6 

Housekeeper's  weekly  martyrdom,  243 

House-maid,  220 

Housewife,  and  servant,  220 

Humanity,  organic  relations  of,  24 
Hydrocarbons,  169 


Index »  283 


Industries,  status  of  domestic,  10  ;  household,  148 

Industry,  development  of,  130  ;  effect  of  upon  body  and  mind, 

133  ;  sex  in,  138 
Inns  of  Court,  67 
Institutes,  People's,  Pratt,  Drexel,  Armour,  274 


Jacques,  Dr.  William,  181 

K 

Kedzie,  Mrs.  Nellie,  work  of,  xvi 
Kingsford,  Dr.  Anna,  163 

Kitchen,  place  in  the  house,  28  ;  German,  49  ;  Rumford  Leaf- 
lets, 175  ;  electrical,  181 ;  diet,  275  ;  people's,  274 


Labor,  division  of,  17,  136  ;  dignity  of,  136  ;  grades  of  and 
their  effect  on  character,  134,  136  ;  further  differentiation  of 
in  household  needed,  131 

Lamp,  74 

Larcom,  Lucy,  recollections  of,  143 

Leslie,  Mrs.  Susan,  recollections  of,  143 

Life,  civilized,  175  ;  two  kinds  of,  235  ;  complications  of,  242 

Light,  office  of ,  7 

Line  in  decorative  art,  89 

Living,  problem  of,  7  ;  business  of,  186  ;  organized,  230 

Lunches,  the  children's,  183, 184 

M 

Mace,  Jean,  7 

Mal-nutrition,  results  of,  164 

Mammaha,  origin  of  name,  8 

Man,  body  of,  149 ;  food,  154  ;  modified  by  food,  155  ;  and  a 

living,  155  ;  complexity  of,  242 
Map,  topographical,  of  cities  needed,  31 ;  microbes,  66 
Mason,  O.  E.,  xi.,  15 
Master  and  servants,  218 
Maternity,  protective,  3 


284  Index, 

Menus,  Thackeray's  in  Pendennis,  179 
Morris,  William,  93,  121 
Mothers,  evolution  of,  3,  138 

N 

National  progress  and  art,  96,  104 

Noise,  in  houses,  53 

Nutrition,  in  household,  148  ;  definition  of,  149 ;  function  of, 

150  ;  steps  of,  150 

O 
Offices,  intelligence,  235 
Order,  98 
Organism,  definition  of,  4  ;  organisms,  union  of,  153 ;  and 

food,  152,  213  ;  internal  of  house,  61 
Organization,  growth  in  power  of,  9 
Oriental  home,  47  ;  art,  91 
Oxygen,  68 

P 

Parlor,  floor  in  the  house,  29 
Pater,  Walter,  43 
Pepper,  red,  quaUty  of,  160 
Personal  rights  m  the  house,  28 
Personification,  mark  of,  12 
Pines,  balsam  of,  65 
Planting,  judicious,  54 
Plumbing,  76,  82 
Poohng  of  resources,  55 
Porter,  Turkish,  strength  of,  175 
Prairie,  possibilities  of,  54 
Proteids,  158,  169,  170,  171,  173 

R 

Reformatory,  Elmira,  164 

Richards,  Mrs.  Ellen  H.,  xiv.,  158,  184-85, 196,  244 

Richardson,  Dr.  B.  W.,  76 

S 

Salmon,  Prof.  Lucy,  xvi.,  221 

Sanitation,  75  ;  problems  of,  77,  80 

Sanitary  Science,  Club  of  Collegiate  Alumnaa,  xv. 


Index,  285 


Sargent,  Dr.,  164 

Servants,  Mrs.  Starrett  on,  xiv.  ;  orders  of,  217  ;  traits  of,  218 

Service,  household,  209  ;  domestic,  209  ;  question  of,  210  ;  defi- 
nition of,  210  ;  tutelage  in,  213  ;  system  of,  219  ;  arguments 
for,  222 ;  iiealthfulness  of,  222 ;  report  on  from  Colorado 
Labor  Bureau,  225 ;  intelligence  offices  for,  255 ;  standard 
wage  in,  226  ;  in  Australia,  226 

Sewage,  systems  of,  76,  77  ;  ignorance  of,  195 

Sex,  in  industry,  138 

Slavery  and  service,  216,  218 

Smith,  Dr.  Edward,  170 

Smith,  Prof,  Mary  Roberts,  social  science  programme,  xvii. 

Society,  organic  growth  of,  129  ;  and  backward  household  in- 
dustries, 141 

Specialization,  136,  141 

State,  highest  duty  of,  11 

Statues,  composite,  164 

Stetson,  Mrs.  Charlotte  P.,  xxi.,  37,  141 

Sunbeam,  motes  in,  196 

Sunshine,  importance  of,  32,  73 


Tadema-Alma,  50 

Talbot,  Marion,  275 

Taste,  hints  on  household,  50 

Teachers,  salary  of,  222 

Temperature  for  house,  71 

Tenement,  26 

Tenements,  model,  52 

Tesla,  181 

Tomboy dom,  63 

Trades  for  women,  241 

Troglodytes,  63 

Turner,  Mrs.  Eliza  S.,  222 

Tyner,  Paul,  aid  of,  xxi. 


U 


Utility  and  beauty,  109 
Utility  in  furniture,  112 


286  Index, 


Vegetarianism,  162 

Ventilation,  61 ;  reasons  for,  62  ;  essentials  of,  67  ;  methods  of, 

68-70 ;  and  heating,  70 
Viele,  31 
Villages,  207 

W 

Ward,  Lester  F.,  14,  141,  235,  236 

Waring,  Col.  George,  79,  206 

Waste  of  structure,  190  ;  twofold,  191 

Water,  importance  in  house,  74-76 ;  well,  79  ;  and  disease,  80 

Watson,  Mrs.  Kate,  programme  of,  xx.,  249 

Weissmann,  11 

Well,  79 

White,  Alfred,  52 

Williams,  Matthieu,  161 

Wisconsin,  University  of,  xv. 

Women,  college,  xiv.,  9 

Women,  Federated  Clubs  of,  xx.  ;   of  faculty,  239 ;  in  clubs, 

241 ;    in  trades,  241 ;    executive  and    administrative,   239 ; 

work,  9,  11 ;  and  intuition,  10 ;  the  modern,  15  ;  offices  of, 

18;  '*  taste  "  in,  94, 120  ;  influence  on  our  national  character, 

104 ;  and  household  labor,  222 
Work,  effect  of  on  character,  134  ;  elevation  of,  138,  a  day's, 

definition  of,  223 


BOOKS  FOR  THE  HOUSEHOLD 

Household  Economics.  A  Course  of  Lectures  in  the 
School  of  Economics  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 
By  Helen  Campbell,  author  of  "  Prisoners  of  Poverty," 
"American  Girls'  Home  Book,"  etc.  Octavo,  gilt 
top $1.50 

"A  truly  remarkable  work  .  .  .  the  author  evinces  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  her  subject,  and  she  treats  it  in  a  luminous  and  logical 
manner,  and  is  thoroughly  practical  .  .  .  the  book  should  be  read  in 
every  intelligent  household  where  the  author's  living  voice  cannot  be 
heard." — N.  Y.  Observer. 

*'  Every  housewife  who  is  ambitious  to  excel  in  housekeeping  should 
read,  learn,  mark,  and  inwardly  digest  the  teachings  of  these  highly  in- 
structive lectures  on  household  economics." — Home  Journal. 

The  Majestic  Family  Cook-Book.  By  Adolphe  Gal- 
lier,  Chefoi  the  Hotel  Majestic,  New  York.  Containing 
1300  selected  receipts  simplified  for  the  use  of  house- 
keepers ;  also  a  few  choice  bills  of  fare.     8vo    .         $2.50 

M.  Gallier  has  taken  advantage  of  his  long  professional  career  in  the 
culinary  art,  and  now  presents  in  convenient  form  his  entire  lore  in  a 
neatly  printed  volume  .  .  .  the  author  may  be  considered  the  most 
accomplished  of  artists  .  .  .  the  booit  is  invaluable  for  every  house- 
hold."—-^. Y.   Times. 

Three  Hundred  and  Sixty-Six  Dinners.     Suggested  by 

M.  E.  N.     16°,  gilt  top $1.25 

'"366  Dinners'  is  a  dainty  little  volume  in  white  and  blue,  which  will 
doubtless  be  as  useful  to  the  hostess  as  its  appearance  would  be  attractive 
to  the  guests  ;  for  it  is  not  a  cook-book  in  brown  oil-cloth  covers,  to  be 
relegated  to  the  floury  hands  of  the  cook,  but  a  calendar  of  menus  to  be 
kept  off  the  drawing-room  table  only  because  early  guests  might  look  in  it 
under  the  day  of  the  month  and  discover  what  was  to  be  given  them." 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  New  York  &  London 


PRACTICAL   COOK  BOOKS 

Good-Living  A  Practical  Cookery  Book  for  Town 
and  Country,  By  Sara  Van  Buren  BRUGifeRE.  8vo, 
cloth $2  oo 

This  book  contains  over  1,300  recipes  drawn  from  highest  authorities 
and  many  countries  ;  from  France,  Belgium,  England,  Holland,  Denmark, 
Spain,  Italy,  Austria,  Russia,  as  well  as  nearer  home,  to  suit  the  varied 
tastes  of  our  cosmopolitan  community.  All  the  plainer  dishes  which 
every  family  requires,  and  which  are  generally  slighted  because  they  are 
plain  and  simple,  have  received  careful  study  ;  roasting,  bread-  and 
butter-making,  etc.,  having  had  great  attention.  Besides  these  there  is 
an  endless  variety  of  entries  or  side-dishes  to  suit  the  palate  of  tho 
gourmet,  all  simple  and  easy  to  make,  giving  a  large  scope  to  the  house- 
keeper to  furnish  a  varied  table  with  a  comparatively  limited  variety  of 
material.  Another  aim,  almost  if  not  quite  equal,  is  economy,  every 
receipt  given  being  within  the  reach  of  any  family  of  moderate,  even 
modest,  means,  in  either  city  or  country. 

The  Franco-American  Cookery  Book ;  or,  How  to 
Live  Well  and  Wisely  Every  Day  in  the  Year. 

Containing  over  2,000  Recipes.  By  Felix  J.  D^LIEE, 
Caterer  of  the  New  York  Club  ;  Ex-Chef  of  the  Union 
and  Manhattan  Clubs.  Large  octavo,  half  leather, 
illustrated $3  50 

A  new  Treatise,  containing  365  different  Bills  of  Fare,  giving  concise 
instructions  how  to  properly  prepare  and  serve  all  kinds  of  domestic  and 
foreign  culinary  provisions  in  every  way  for  each  succeeding  season,  and 
mostly  convenient  for  private  families,  clubs,  restaurants,  hotels,  etc.,  etc. 

"  In  form,  print,  and  value  to  economical  taste  it  is,  without  doubt,  the 
best  book  of  cookery  ever  issued  from  the  American  press." — Globe^ 
Boston. 

"  The  most  extensive  work  on  cookery  printed  in  this  country."— /Vjj/, 
Pittsburg. 

Quick  Cooking.  A  Book  of  Culinary  Heresies  for  the 
Busy  Wives  and  Mothers  of  the  Land.  By  One  of 
THE  Heretics.     i6mo,  cloth     .        .        .        -75  cts. 

"  A  delightful  addition  to  the  serious  literature  of  cooking."— 5^f^o» 
Post. 

*'  A  treasure  for  busy  wives,  mothers,  and  housekeepers." — ChaiaU' 
quan. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  New  York  &  London 


University  of 
Connecticut 

Libraries 


